Life Bound
by clockworkchaos
Summary: Toph is a properly raised earth kingdom lady. With properly bound feet. AU
1. Bound

**Life Bound**

**Prologue **

"And now... the moment you've all be waiting for: The Boulder, verses your champion!" Xin Fu paused for effect, as the crowd looked down on the figure. The champion was surprisingly small; he looked about Aang, maybe Katara's height. "The Stone Servant!"

The crowd roared as his scantily clad assistants took away the cloak and belt.

Aang paused. "Hey guys, does something feel wrong to you?"

"The only thing wrong is that anyone imagines this is going to be a real match," Sokka answered. "Watch as the Boulder takes this nobody to the curb."

**Bound**

_Six years previous…_

SNAP.

Toph cried out in pain. She had been told to be brave. She had been determined to be brave. But in the wake of the raw, uncontested pain of her foot breaking in two, all those resolutions crumbled into nothingness. Her entire body was in agony, her other foot kicking wildly while her arms twisted about.

SNAP.

Her foot was broken a second time. Toph screamed and struggled. She first reached for the earth, trying to call it, but the room was solid wood. She tried to pull her uninjured foot away, but Chanzu held it tight and moving it only made it worse. Finally out of other options, Toph cried for her father. "Daddy!"

"Please, Toph, be brave. It will be over soon." Her father calmly tried to reassure her, but the only message Toph got was that there would be no help from him. She tried to call out for her mother instead, but the wooden walls were quite thick and she had left the room before the procedure started. Chanzu had begun to apply some sort of wrapping to her foot, further crushing it. Toph finally managed to gather enough concentration to aim her other foot's kick.

"Ouch!" Chanzu let go, and the pressure on her broken foot was released. "Hold her down. I can't work like this."

Her father tightly grabbed her free leg with one hand, while he held her chest down with his other hand. Toph felt the woman grab her foot again. "No! Daddy!"

"I said hold her down," said Chanzu. "If she moves it could cause complications. If you are going to be squeamish about this, get a servant."

"Yes, I…. Chang, come over here." A second pair of arms held her down. Toph screamed and fought and yelled herself horse, but it was futile. Her toes were curled under her foot and pressure was applied to it. Bandages wrapped around, tighter and tighter, crushing her foot.

Then, the wrapping stopped. Toph redoubled her efforts, she knew what was coming next. But it was futile; she was held down tightly, Chanzu's grip was strong. For a second, time seemed to stop as Chanzu held her unbroken foot in her hand, examining and feeling it.

SNAP.

OoOoOoOo

After the binding, Toph was carried to her bed. Chanzu wanted to make her walk, but her father put his foot down. After they left, her mother sat down besides her. Toph tried to pretend to be asleep.

"Toph?"

Toph wasn't listening. Could her mother see how hard she wasn't listening?

"Toph, I know you're upset, but footbinding it just part of growing up. It's how little girls become proper young ladies. I have them. The servants have them. It's simply something everyone has to go through. I know it hurts right now, but it will get better soon."

"So when does it stop?"

Her mother didn't answer.

OoOoO

Toph sucked in her breath, carefully lifting her foot up.

Chanzu hit her in the back of the head. "Hurry up, lazy girl. It will only be worse if you take too much time."

Toph clenched her hands into fists. Stupid old woman, stupid ground, stupid footbinding. However, fear of more punishment outweighed any rebellion, and she set her foot down. The grass was soft, not that she could really feel it with the bandages; every step was like crushing her foot with a rock. The worst part was when her entire bodyweight was on one foot. It hurt more than anything she'd done before. And Chanzu had insisted they walk through the entire outer compound.

After a few more painful steps, Toph stopped. Someone was yelling for Chanzu. "Excuse me!" As the voice got closer, Toph could make out a boy about her age.

"What is it?" the old woman snapped back.

"I- Mom said to tell you that an important guest was here for you."

"And just who are you?"

"Mom cooks and dad-" he started before being cut off.

"Ah, one of the servant's children. Just who is this important guest?"

"I-uh." The boy hesitated. "He was wearing fancy clothes and had a big pointy green hat-."

"Peng. I told him I would be busy until this afternoon." The woman gave an exasperated sigh. "You!"

"Me?" the boy asked.

"Do you see anyone else?" Chanzu answered. "Don't move, and make sure she continues to walk. Those feet won't bind themselves."

Toph really hated her. Couldn't even give her a lousy break. Toph bet she was an ugly, black-hearted old woman. Probably everyone else hated her.

For a while it was silent, Toph walking in circles, dividing her time between thinking on the evils of Chanzu and trying to find a less painful method. Perhaps lifting them only a little, or maybe some shuffling-

"Do you wanna sit down..?" the boy offered.

"What?"

"Well…" The boy hesitated. "Isn't that painful? And she's been gone forever."

Toph stopped walking and thought. "What if she comes back? If she realizes I wasn't walking-"

"I'll look out for you."

Toph mulled over the offer. Her feet were really hurting, and making her walk was stupid anyways. But could she trust him? "Fine, but you gotta promise."

"Okay, I promise."

"No, not like that." Toph sighed at some people's obvious ignorance. "You gotta promise on something _important_."

"Oh." The boy thought for a while. "I promise on my mother's silver coin."

Toph crossed her arms. "Don't be stupid. That's not _important_."

"Oh. I um… I…" The boy struggled to think of something. "I promise on my earthbending."

Toph had to admit that was a pretty important thing to promise on.

It was an absolute relief to take the pressure off her aching feet. For a while Toph was able to enjoy the feeling of grass beneath her hands. In time, Chanzu came back, but the boy made good on his promise.

OoOoOo

With the pain it took to walk it wasn't till a week after the bindings that felt well enough to walk without being forced, and she could finally find some alone time. Balancing herself on her feet, she lifted her arms up and attempted to earthbend.

"AH!"

She gave a cry of pain as the earth fought back. It had always fought back, but before... before she could take it. Now her feet demanded she stop. But Toph was stubborn. Again she got up, more prepared for the pain. Again she tried to lift a piece, and again the pain was too great.

Eventually, Toph conceded defeat and tried for a smaller bit of earth. And when that failed, a smaller bit. And then a smaller bit still. Finally, she managed a piece, her feet screaming at her every second she lifted it, but Toph managed to pulled it out and deposit it on the ground.

After taking a while to sit down, Top walked over and felt it. It was tiny. Granted, by the standards of a non-earthbender it was impressive; a full-grown laborer would be needed to lift it. But she used to be able to lift so much more. Every single earthbender she knew could lift so much more.

Toph sat down next to the tiny boulder. She'd always loved her earthbending. As long as she could remember, she played with the earth more than any babble her parents got her. Once she'd started to understand the world, the earth had been the only one who never judged her, never made excuses or didn't let her do things. She hadn't encountered many other earthbenders, but she'd always thought she was good at it. And now…

Toph fought back tears. She hated growing up. She hated her stupid bindings.

OoOoOoO

Toph sat at the table, considering her options. To go for a drink or not? On the one hand, she was thirsty. On the other hand, the tea would mean she had to walk. Walks hurt and stunk and she hated walking. Maybe if she just waited she's stop being thirsty…

"Excuse me." It was the boy from the walk. "Do you want me to get you a drink?" Toph hesitated. Toph hated asking for things … but her feet _hurt_.

She nodded.

"Here." Toph felt the drink place in her outstretched hand.

After finishing it off, Toph stayed silent, struggling with herself.

Finally, she spoke. "Thank you."

OoOoOoO

Toph regarded the visitor with suspicion. Old women meant nothing good. Her mother had assured her this would be nothing bad, but Toph didn't trust her and she had screamed and cried until she got her mother to stay in the room.

"My name is Nu Wa, and I am here to train you in earthbending."

"Can't," Toph mumbled.

"I'm sorry, please speak up."

"Can't," Toph said slightly louder, shoving her feet onto the table to her mother's horror.

Nu Wa gave a slight chuckle. "I am not talking about the uncivilized chucking of boulders, but a proper lady's earthbending." One advantage of being blind was Toph didn't feel the need to face people in order to hear them, which meant she could preserve the illusion of being disinterested even when she wasn't. "Please, hold out your hand," Nu Wa continued.

Toph held out her hand, the picture of disinterest and reluctance. Nu Wa placed something in. "What is this?" Toph asked as she felt it, soft, smooth. This wasn't earth, or rock, it was-

"Clay. We are going to begin with sculpting."

OoOoOo

Adults were stupid. Since she was blind no one bothered to hide the double-backed sugared plums from her. Toph grunted as she stretched her arm up. Stupid high shelves.

Toph thrust her arms forward, trying to shake the earth, and with it, the plum jar. Unfortunately it was as useless as all her other efforts. She wanted to kick something, but she knew how bad an idea that was. Instead she sat down in frustration. It wasn't even about the stupid plums any more, just being so-

The jar fell to the ground with a crash.

Toph looked up in confusion. She could hear someone approaching.

"Hey, I, I thought maybe you wanted one?" It was the boy from earlier.

Toph smiled, and reached for one of the plums. Feeling its plump, soft outside. She bit into it, enjoying the delicious juicy sweetness. She was still angry about the earthbending, but she had to admit that the plums were wonderful when you were feeling down.

Unfortunately the good times could only last so long. There was an angry scream from one of the servants, "What is going on here?"

Before Toph could think of a response, the boy stood up. "I'm sorry, Mother, the jar just fell and I was cleaning it up-"

The sound of someone being smacked followed.

"Don't lie to me. You knocked it off on purpose. And what is Lady Toph doing in here?" Toph's fists clenched, she hated it when people treated her as if she wasn't there.

"I don't know. She just walked in."

"Idiot boy, what if she had injured herself on the shards?" the mother yelled back. Toph gnashed her teeth; like clay would pierce the stupid bandages. "Lady, are you alright?"

"Alright? Is something wrong?" Toph asked, the picture of innocence.

"You didn't see?"

"See what? I'm blind."

"No, no nothing." She turned her attention back to her son. "There will be no dinner tonight, and be grateful no one found out. Now make sure Lady Toph doesn't hurt herself while I get something to clean this up."

As the woman left, the boy spoke up, "Sorry."

Toph shrugged. "For what? I didn't get in trouble."

"No, for Mom ignoring you."

Toph was surprised, that was the first time anyone had even noticed other people ignoring her. "Thanks. And thanks for not tattling."

"I broke it."

Toph laughed. "Yeah. What's your name?"

"It's Ohev."

"Ohev." Toph bowed like her parents taught her. "It is an honor to meet you."

OoOoOo

"Bored, are you?" Nu Wa asked.

Toph smiled sweetly. "Oh no, sifu, what could ever give you that impression?"

"I've had plenty of students." Nu Wa was right. Toph was so bored. Shaping clay was the dullest, easiest earthbending she'd ever done. You didn't even need to be an earthbender to do it, so what was the point? Okay, non-earthbenders couldn't shape dried clay, but so what? The day after she'd learned that the plum-jars had been locked in wooden cabinets. Even though she was only six, Toph was fairly certain the two events were correlated. Nu Wa continued speaking, "You want a bit more of a challenge? Fine then, hold out your hand."

Toph felt the object placed in it; hard, smooth, cool. "A stone?"Toph felt it again to make sure, but there was nothing special about it. It was simply a plain, smooth stone, like one would scoop from the river.

"Sculpting is the second of the shaping arts. Now go on, shape it." Toph stood up. "And what do you think you're doing?"

"Earthbending?"

Nu Wa gave a small laugh. "As I said before, this is _art_, not brutish rock throwing. You don't bend with your feet. Bend with your hands. Now sit down."

Toph did so, grumbling low enough Nu Wa couldn't hear. Toph tried to earthbend the stone, but it was impossible. She just pushed against it, but there was nothing to push back with. She could stand against the ground, but she wasn't stable. Toph fought against the rock, twisting her hands as she tried to find some way to force it to move. Stupid, impossible, rock, if she could just stand up-

Toph gave and exasperated sigh and threw the stone across the table in frustration.

"Giving up so easily?" Nu Wa picked up the rock. She held in her hands for a moment before setting it down in front of Toph. "Now, try to shape it back."

Toph picked it up again, only to find the rock was now completely different. All spiky and delicate. As Toph traced her fingers on it, a clearer picture began to emerge. It was a miniature badger-mole figurine. The sides were ruffled to resemble fur, the snout had little dimples for the nostrils, and the tiny claws were even sharp.

Toph pushed against the rock, trying to turn it back.

OoOoOo

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Ohev asked nervously. "We could get in _trouble_."

"Duh, that's what makes it _fun_. Now watch out for me, or you're gonna lose your earthbending." Toph put her ear against the door.

"It is amazing," Nu Wa gushed. She never sounded so impressed during their lessons. "When she was doing pottery, I wasn't impressed. Then with sculpting she actually became interested, enthusiastic."

"Then her work is acceptable?" her father asked. "Even with her disability?"

"Her work on the clay was acceptable. Her progress with sculpting is just… sublime. She's become so much more receptive to learning. Look at the figurine. It's almost an exact duplicate of the one I gave her."

"So her work is good?"

"No, you don't understand. Her work is amazing, and I would not hesitate to call her a prodigy. It is a shame about her blindness, she will never learn all the arts of earthbending. But still, her sculpting alone-"

"Toph!" Ohev shook her. "Someone's comin'."

The two beat a hasty retreat from the door.

OoOoOoOo

That night, they met up for more fun.

"So what is it?" Ohev voice quivered with excitement. Which was right and proper, Toph was going to tell him a _secret_, and everyone knew secrets were the best thing ever. Especially secrets the adults didn't know.

"You promise not to tell anyone?"

"Yes. I promise."

Toph smiled and pulled out a rock, it was about the size of one of the worker's fists. Slowly she began to shape it, turning it long and thin, and flattening the edge to a perfect sharpness. Soon she held a stone knife in her hand. She held it out. "Feel it."

Ohev took the knife. "Ouch!" And Toph heard it clatter to the floor.

"Shhh, you'll wake everyone up. You gotta be careful with it. Now give it back."

Ohev handed the knife back. "What are you gonna do with it?"

"Watch." Toph, who was already sitting down, lifted one of her feet into the air and began to cut the bindings.

"Do you want-"

"I have it." Toph hissed back. Slowly she cut through the layers of hardened binding. Once they were cut she began ripping them away with joy. She then resharpened the knife and began to work on the other foot.

Once both feet were free, she stretched out her legs and felt around her feet. She frowned. They felt wrong. She was sure feet weren't supposed to be that way. Still, they would go back to normal now that the bindings were removed, she was certain.

Toph stood up.

Pain shot through her feet. Toph fought back tears. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, she had cut them away. It shouldn't hurt anymore. It shouldn't hurt to stand.

"Are you alright?" Ohev asked with worry.

Toph carefully put one foot in front of her. "I'm... I'm fine."

OoOoOoOo

Toph's plan proved less effective than she hoped. The next morning, her parents immediately freaked. "Quickly, summon Chanzu." Her lessons were stopped and now Nu Wa, her mother and father some of the servants stood in the room with her.

"What!" Toph protested indignantly. She had removed them. They weren't allowed to put them back. That wasn't _fair. _

Her father bent down to her. "Now tell me. Did you know who? What villain attacked you?"

Toph crossed her arms. She wasn't talking.

"Toph I know you must be scared. But I need you to tell me anything you can remember. I know you can't see, but please try."

"Hmph."

Her father stood up. "Chang, conduct a full investigation. We need to find out who did this whoever it is much be kicked out of the household."

"Of course-"

"Wait!" Toph's mouth dropped as Ohev rushed in. "Wait. I did it, I cut the bindings."

"You what!" her father asked in disbelief.

"Yes, sir."

"What!" Toph finally regained her voice. What was he doing?

"You realize your entire family will be dismissed?" Lao asked.

"No!" Toph shouted. "He didn't do it. I did!" Toph shouted.

"Toph, please be quite. Now, boy, tell me how you did it."

"I earthbent a knife," Ohev answered.

"No, he didn't!"

Her father ignored her objectins objections. "Right, well then, Chang. Summon the boy's parents. If they couldn't control him-"

"IT WAS ME!" Toph screamed, why was he doing this? Did he want to be sent away? What was wrong with him!

"Toph, I know you like him." Her mother bent down to try to calm her. "But don't try to pretend he didn't do it. He could have hurt you."

"No!"

"Wait." Nu Wa's voice cut through the atmosphere, and even Toph's father was silent. "You say you earthbent the knife?"

"Yes," Ohev answered.

Her father said, "Now then-"

Nu Wa cut him off. "Hmph. An untrained _boy_ making a knife sharp enough to cut through foot bindings? My students are much better liars."

"But-" Ohev began.

"So you made the knife? Very well." Nu Wa handed him a round stone. "Here should be all you need to create another. Show us."

The next several minutes were silent, save for the sound of Ohev grunting and trying to move it.. Finally, he began yelling, "Hey, wait! Give it back. I'm not done!"

"And you never will be. Now look at this." For once Toph wished she could see, to know what it looked like. "Does anyone think _this_ could have possibly cut through properly made bindings? I admit to not particularly examining Toph's, but then I don't need to. Chanzu is a professional. Now Toph, you claim you did it?"

"Yes, sifu," Toph answered.

"Then show us." Nu Wa handed her the same piece of rock. Toph felt Ohev's clumsy attempts to shape it. Not a sharp edge anywhere, it wasn't even straight. Toph quickly flattened the blade out, recreating the knife.

"Here," she said, handing it back to Nu Wa.

"Now, tell me. As before, is there any doubt that this could have cut through them?" Nu Wa added to Toph's parents, "You can feel it if you like."

"Wait!" Ohev yelled. "I lied. I didn't really make the knife."

"Oh?" Nu Wa's replied.

"I… I stole one, from the kitchen."

"What? He's lying!" Toph yelled.

"You stole it from the Kitchens?" "Well, let us go down stairs and you can show us how you managed to get a knife sharp enough to cut the bindings. I admit to not having inspected the kitchen in the house, but I remember they tend to be kept in locked, high, cabinets, exactly so children cannot get to them. And you claim you managed to?"

"I-I- I did. I'll prove it. I'll get them!" Ohev answered resolvedly.

As the others filed out of the room, Toph moved to get up but her mother held her down. "You can't walk like that."

"I wanna talk to Nu Wa."

"What is it?" Nu Wa moved towards her.

"…Thank you."

"Don't thank me." She replied coldly. "I simply can't stand seeing the wrong people blamed. And I'm going to suggest you receive appropriate punishment." Even so, Toph was grateful.

OoOoOo

Toph lay in her bed. Ohev hadn't been able to reach the kitchen knives. Once it was clear she had cut her foot bindings, her parents had decided it wasn't that bad. She had needed rebinding soon anyways.

After it was done, her new bandages bound her feet even tighter. Worse, they'd put some sort of metal…. _thing_ over them to prevent her from removing them. Apparently she wasn't the first girl to think of cutting them off.

"Toph?" It was Ohev, sneaking into her bedroom. Toph turned to the other side, trying to pretend she was asleep. "Are you mad at me?"

Toph didn't answer.

"I'm sorry."

Toph had had enough. "Sorry! Sorry? You almost got you and your family kicked out. And then - and then you would have been gone. Why are you so stupid?"

"I was worried about you."

"Me?" Toph asked in confusion, "What were you worried about me for?"

"Your parents said they'd kick out the person who did it. I have a family. We could have gone somewhere else. But…. But you wouldn't have had anyone."

"Stupid… My parents wouldn't have done that. Besides, I could have lived on my own."

"How?"

"Well I, I could go to the cave outside of town. Live in them, just like a fire barbarian." Toph wasn't exactly sure exactly what a barbarian was, but she remembered her mother said that they didn't have footbindings. Their women were undignified and fought all the time. And everyone was scared of 'em. Toph thought that sounded like fun.

"But what would you eat?"

Toph paused. She hadn't considered that. "Well… bugs and worms, that's what barbarians eat."

"It is?"

"Coarse it is." Toph hesitated; being a barbarian sounded like less fun now. "And you could bring me food from the house."

"Oh. Sorry for ruining it then."

"It's fine." Toph stopped thinking. "I'm really glad you didn't have to go. You're my friend."

"I am?"

"Of course you are, stupid."

"Oh… You're my friend too, Toph."

AN: This story is already complete, and as such will be updated weekly. Promise, honestly.

Thanks to Loopy7777, Lavanya Six and pandora_remix for story development. An extra special thanks to Lavanays Six for Betaing at the very last minute, and not killing me for dumping a 30k fic to beta over about two weeks.


	2. Rebound

**Rebound  
**

"Toph?"

Toph turned over in bed. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep…

"Oh come on. You always do this after a binding. I've got something _fun_." Ohev said enticingly.

She wasn't listening, why did he never take the hint?

"Well, that's fine. I guess you wouldn't want to go anyways. After all, I learned about it from the _older_ boys. And it's a lower class activity, you wouldn't be interested."

Toph cursed that four years meant he knew her buttons so well.

"Plus," Ohev added, it's outside the compound. So we'd have to sneak out."

Really, really well.

OoOoOoOo

Toph wasn't worried. Not at all. Still, Ohev hadn't quite made clear how many people were going to be here. It was as crowded as one of the parties her parents might have; only she couldn't leave. (Her parents were always ready to show off their daughter's amazing sculptures, but they were less eager to show off Toph herself.)

Toph jerked back as someone elbowed her. Not only was it crowded, but no one made any room for her. Granted it was nice to not be treated like a doll, but a little deference would be nice. Toph clutched Ohev's hand. Eventually they managed to find their seats. It was as crowded in the stands as well, and the people smelled awful: sweat and dirt and things Toph couldn't begin to identify. She hated her parent's parties, but at least the guests didn't smell like manure.

Toph leaned over and whispered to Ohev, "When is it starting?"

"It looks like now. I think that's the announcer coming on."

A voice thundered over the crowd, "Welcome, everyone, to the special exception match. To those of you joining us for the first time, let me explain the rules. These are the underground rumbles. Two men enter, but only one leaves upright. This is a fight of earth-on-earth. No weapons or direct contact. Beyond that, anything goes. Fight's end on removal from the ring or knockout.."

"In this corner... the unmovable mountain, the decimating avalanche, the BIG! BAD! HIPPOOO!

The announcer paused, waiting for the cheering to die down. It weird, the way they all rumbled and shouted at once. Every gathering she was used to, people talked quietly, so as not to drown out the other conversations, but here, it was like they wanted to.

"And in this corner, they mysterious mover of earth, the unknown fighter himself, the MASKED EAAAARTHBENNNNDERRRR!"

Toph settled down, waiting for the match to start. Honestly, she was somewhat disappointed. Sports really weren't her thing, since she couldn't see anything. At least she could hear the dialogue in a play. Toph resigned herself to a night of boredom.

And then the match started.

She couldn't see, but she could definitely hear it. The sound of the competition. The grunts as the competitors lifted the earth. The smashes as boulders and rocks were sent flying, crashing to each other. The rumble of the earth shifting.

For a second Toph was six again; stomping the ground to create shockwaves, lifting boulders with ease. It had been four years since her foot were first bound, and she'd thought she'd forgotten, but in a moment it all came back.

_This_ was earthbending. Not the pansy shaping of a few trinkets. Raw, unrestrained power. No delicacy. No working with the earth. Just you against the world, to telling it that it would move, not you.

The crowd roared, and Toph felt herself drawn in. She grabbed Ohev. "What's happening? Quick, tell me what's happening!"

"Well, uh. The Mask is sending a spike towards the Hipp - no wait, they were blocked! Now he's sending a big boulder towards the Mask and-"

A roar came from the crowd. "Oh this doesn't look good for the Hippo," the announcers voice cut through.

"What happened?" Toph demanded. "I thought the Hippo was sending a boulder."

"Well, he was. But the Mask dodged and sent a rock towards the Hippo's leg. It looks like it hit and he's not moving as well."

"Why didn't you say that?"

"Sorry," Ohev said. "It's hard to keep up."

Another roar from the crowd.

Toph cursed her blindness. "Just tell me what's happening. Don't say anything else."

OoOoOoOo

"And that's the end of the match,' the announcer declared. "To those of use joining for the first time, remember: same time, same place every week."

Toph was practically bouncing up and down. "That was the coolest thing _ever."_ The Masked Earthbender had won, but even with an injured leg it had been a near thing. The Hippo's sheer size (according to Ohev, he had to be twice as tall as her father, and nearly time times as wide, but Toph though he was exaggerating) made it nearly impossible to knock him out of the ring. "Come on."

Ohev held her back. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to the wrestlers," Toph responded.

"You can't!"

"Why not?" Toph struggled against his grip.

"We need to get back before anyone realizes we're gone."

"So what? We've got plenty of time."

"Toph! It's already sundown."

Toph stopped. No way, it couldn't be. They had arrived in the afternoon. And the match hadn't been that long… had it? "How do you know? This place is underground."

"I can see the exits. We need to go."

"Pleeeeeasssse?"

OoOoOoOo

Toph missed when Ohev was still a pushover.

OoOoOoOoO

"Hey, Toph. I know you parents are out of town," Ohev began, "but did they schedule anything for you tomorrow?"

Toph smiled. "You have tickets?"

"Yeah. And guess what? The fight starts at noon this time. So we can actually meet the-"

"What!" Toph grabbed Ohev and began to shake him. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I need to get ready!"

"Wait!" Ohev called out. "You didn't say if you had anything…."

OoOoOoOo

Toph pushed and shoved against the crowd, but to no avail. After several frustrating minutes, she finally gave up in a huff. While most places in the Earth Kingdom made room for women, the Rumbles were not a place for the weak. Toph couldn't even get close to the wrestlers.

"You alright?"

"Do I look alright? I can't even get close to them."

"Yeah…. Maybe I could try?" he offered.

"Ohev, sometimes I remember why I bother keeping you around." Toph reached into the bag she had been carrying with her the entire night, feeling around until she pulled out two stone figurines. "Go make them sign these."

"…. What are they?" Ohev asked as he took them.

Toph shoulders dropped. "They were supposed to be the wrestlers, or at least what I thought they would look like. That one was the Hippo and that's the Mole. Look, just tell me what's wrong with them and I can fix it." Toph might not be able to see them, but Nu Wa had made her do enough statues that she was sure she could adjust them.

"Oh… Actually, now I can sort of see it. As for what's wrong… well, the Hippo has a lot more fat and a lot less muscle and you missed the hunchback of the mole and… you know what? On second thought, let's keep them as is. I think they'd love them."

"Good, now go get me those autographs."

"Of course, my lady. I shall brave the perils of this crowd of ruffians in pursuit of you trophy." Toph giggled before shooing him off and settling down to wait.

One of the things people got wrong about Toph was the idea that simply because she was blind she wouldn't know they were there unless they told her or touched her. That was stupid. There were so many other ways to tell if a person was there. Body heat, changes in the air as they moved, sound. Sound was a big one. People breathed, shuffled, walked, and Toph didn't know how anyone could have trouble _not_ hearing those. Finally there was smell. Everyone had a smell. Her mother smelled like perfume, Her father like ink and paper, and Ohev like dirt and earth, not that that was bad, Toph liked the smell of earth.

Toph never had trouble telling when someone or something was near, though identifying them was a little harder. But whatever had just walked up to her was big, heavy, and very smelly.

"What are you?" A blast of hot air responded. Right, Ohev had mentioned they used a badger moles to clean the arena. "Not now." The thing didn't move. "Go away, shoo. I'm waiting for someone." Its only response was to lick her across the face with its long, sloppy tongue. "Ugggh. Stop that!" Another lick.

OoOoOoOo

It was quite a wile before Ohev finally returned. "Well, it looks like you've made a friend."

Toph removed her hands from behind the badger mole's ears. "Phhh. This was the only way to keep the stupid thing from covering my face with its slobber. Now, did you get em!"

"Yeah. Wasn't easy, but here they are." Ohev handed the statues over, and Toph ran her hands over them. For a second she was aghast, someone had changed them. But as she gave it more time, she felt that only the base had been modified. It had been expanded in order to fit the signatures; a stupid oversight on her part. Real earthbenders wouldn't be able to fit their signatures into the tiny stone base she had originally made.

OoOoOoOo

Toph smiled cheerfully. "So lesson time right?" Toph clapped her hands together. "What will I be learning today, honored Sifu?"

Nu Wa was not amused. "And just where were you yesterday?"

Toph made the most innocent face possible. "Me? I just got lost in the grounds. I'm blind you know."

"Really? Well then, you'll be pleased to know that I'm going to make sure you don't get lost again. Your parents may be out of town right, but once they get back I think I will inform them of this little oversight."

"What? You can't!"

"I can, and I will. Let this be a reminder, I do not tolerate skipping lessons."

Toph sputtered, "You- you."

"Let us move on to the next lesson, shall we?"

OoOoOoOo

"And they're going to freak," Toph groused. "I'll never be able to get out of the house."

"I thought you said you didn't have anything. You lied to me." He said, his voice like a hurt puppy.

"I'm about to be trapped forever and all you can think about is that?" Toph pointed an accusatory finger. "What kind of friend are you?"

"But… I- I-." Ohev sighed. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"Do about it? My life is ruined! Ruined! What can I do?"

"Well, has she told anyone yet?"

"No….. you want to kill her? That's horrible. Besides, I don't know any assassins."

"That's not what I meant!" he stammered. "I mean, maybe you could convince her not to tell them?"

Toph sighed. "I already tried bribery."

"I meant, like, apologizing."

"Tried that and begging as well and she won't budge." Toph threw her hands in the air. "I had no idea she'd get so angry."

"Is there anything she does like?"

OoOoOoO

"You seem awfully happy to be here," Nu Wa said.

Toph smiled angelically. "Why wouldn't I be happy to learn from my favorite sifu?"

"I'm not changing my mind, that's final," Nu Wa snapped. "And I hate attempts that insult my intelligence."

Toph gasped. "Change your mind? I wouldn't dream of it."

Nu Wa tapped her fingers. "What do you want?"

"I was just wondering if maybe you could show me some more earthbending. I know I'm blind an all, but I was hoping. I could appreciate the _art_."

Again there was silence. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, sifu."

"…" Even without sight, Toph could feel the frown. "Very well, would you like some tea?"

"Of course!" Toph kept up her unrelenting assault of good cheer and eagerness.

"As you wish." Nu Wa answered, and the cup clicked down in front of her. Toph paused. Nu Wa hadn't gotten up, and Toph was sure their hadn't been any cups on the table. Tentatively she reached for the cup. It was hot to the touch.

"This is the earthbending tea ceremony. The reason all proper tea sets are made of earth-ceramics. It is one of the most basic arts of a proper ladies earthbending. Normally I would have taught it long before sculpting but…" Nu Wa sighed. "Let us not dwell on what might have been. Since you are so eager to work today, let us see you craft a proper set."

OoOoOo

"Little to the right." Toph moved her fingers. "No, too far, little to the left." Toph again adjusted it. Ohev _hmmed_. "Okay, now turn it just a little to the left, but don't move it! Just turn it in place."

Ohev began humming again as observed. Toph sighed. "Do I have it now?"

"I think, but you're not holding it perfectly steady."

Toph yelled back, "You try holding something you can't even see perfectly steady five feet from you!"

"No!" Ohev cried. "Now you moved it. All right, this time move the teapot back a little."

Toph sighed, but managed to retain enough self control this time to not move her hand.

OoOoOo

"So what do you think, sifu?" Toph asked as she called the pot to her.

Nu Wa was silent.

Finally, she spoke. "I am… most impressed." Toph bowed. "Just how did you do that?"

"Well, it was all thank to the independent training I did at the beginning of the week."

"That doesn't answer my question at all." Nu Wa voice said icily. "Furthermore, you mean the training you did _before I showed you it_?"

Toph smiled. "Of course."

"That is a lie so obvious even that servant you like so much wouldn't use it. What do you want?"

Toph made a show of considering Nu Wa's words. "Well, I was thinking, since I wasn't available for lessons because I was working so hard on impressing you, it isn't like I was really missing them."

"And you want me to not tell your parents."

"Wellll…." Toph paused. "Actually I was thinking a little more."

"Don't push your luck."

"I'm not. I'm just asking you to think about my future development."

Nu Wa tapped her fingers again. "Future development?"

"Yes." Toph nodded eagerly. "I do my best work independently, that's how I learn. If you could help me, then I might be able to continue to impress you."

Nu Wa took a sip of tea before responding. "And I assume you have a specific proposition in mind."

"Well, now that you mention it." Toph leaned forward, her smile utterly innocent. "I was thinking you could tell my parents that you need to take me back for private lessons. And then you could let me go independently study."

"I assume you don't want me to tell your parents about the second part."

"Well, if _you_ think it's best." Toph . "I could have one day a week to study with you, to perfect techniques or develop ideas for new ones."

Nu Wa laughed. "Not a chance. Maybe one day a week of 'independent study'. The rest is actual work."

"Two days with you."

Nu Wa tapped her teacup against the table. Toph suspect she was trying to stare her down, but that tactic was utterly ineffective. Finally, she conceded, "…Two days of independent study."

"Deal! But I get to choose the times."

Nu Wa clear her throat one last time. "Let me make something clear, I do not approve of this. I don't know what you're really doing, and somehow I suspect I don't really want to know. I have taught the good, I have taught the great, and I have taught the terrible. But your quick mastery of sculpting was beyond anything I have ever seen. It frustrated me to know such a genius would never be able attain proper mastery of any of the other arts, but you with this step you managed to defy even that.

"I believed it was simple memorization, but the creativity applied is as much the mark of a true genius as natural ability. You have both. However, I am only doing this because I want to see what you can accomplish, and that depends on you accomplishing work. I expect to be impressed. If you continue to show the skill and mastery I believe you have, then all is well. If you do not, then you are either not skilled enough or unwilling to apply yourself, and I have time for neither, do I make myself clear?"

OoOoOoOo

Again the stupid badger mole was bugging her. What was with this thing? Sighing, Toph consented to giving it another ear rub if it would keep away unexpected licks.

A second set of footsteps approached behind her. By the weight and smell, she'd have been tempted to guess it was a baby badger mole, but the stride was all wrong. A single pounding of feet rather than the multiple footfalls of a four legged animal. "It seems Xioa's taken a liking to you."

"Wait… it's a girl?"

The man laughed. "Yeah, badger mole's ain't like humans. Females just as good as a males."

"Whatever. Why does it keep getting attracted to me?"

"Maybe it wants some kinship, thinks yer like et?"

"I don't smell anything like a badger mole." Not that Toph really had an objection to how badger moles smelled. Not that Toph really had an objection to the smell of dirt that clung to badger moles. It beat the stench of sweat and grime you found on half the Earth Rumble crowd.

"Now I didn' mean it like that. Just that theey's blind too."

OoOoOoOo

Footsteps, lighter than an adult's, but not with the delicate gait of a girl. Not that there were any other girls here, but still the awkward _clomp clomp_ of a growing boy was unmistakable. Toph focused back on her hands; she could hear it, now she needed to _feel_ it.

The footsteps stopped. "Toph…. what are you doing?"

"Keep moving around, I'm trying to learn something."

"Okay?" The footsteps began again. "So is this something Nu Wa had you learning?" 

Toph laughed. "No, this is something I came up with on my own. You know how you always have to describe the fights to me?"

"Yeah. It's not a problem though, he added quickly.

Toph frowned. Still nothing. "Yeah, but I want to experience them on my own. Could you jump for a second?" A second later she smiled in delight, she had _felt _it. "Do it again, keep jumping!" More vibrations.

"Toph?"

"Right, so I was thinking about badger moles. They're blind, but they can 'see' with their feet, feeling the vibrations in the earth. So I was thinking maybe I could do something like that. Only not with my feet obviously, but the badger moles also see with their front paws, and those are like hands, so…."

The jumping stopped. "Toph," Ohev said cautiously, "this is cool, but you really, _really_ don't want to be crawling around the Earth Rumble's floor. Trust me on this."

"The benches are made of stone aren't they?"

OoOoOoOO

"So now The Hippo's on the far side right?"

"Yeah," Ohev confirmed.

Suddenly the ground rumbled with a heavy blow, and the crowd roared in disappointment. "What happened, why did The Hippo fall down?"

"Fire Nation Man closed in and managed to make him lose his balance."

Toph frowned. This wasn't working. She could "see" pretty well when it was just Ohev. Part of it was just lack of experience, making out which bumps meant what was hard, but it was more than that. All the other people in the crowd were a distraction, but the distance was worse. Seated so far away from the action, it was hard to distinguish the events. Both fighters were coming from the same general direction, and both had interference from all the stomping feet and movement of the crowd. Only the Hippo's heavier actions were at all distinguishable.

If only she could get closer. Toph placed her hands on the seat, and began feeling the crowd. Most of it was a constant cacophony of stomping feet, people showing, getting up, falling down (usually drunk) and other movement. Yet if she concentrated… "Ohev, I think there might be some empty seats up front."

Ohev paused. "Yeah, but I don't think we should go down there, they're probably someone else's and they just got up."

"So what, you snooze you lose. It's not like they brought that specific seat is it?"

"Well, no, but I-"

"Then come on."

OoOoOoOoO

"Hey, what are you doing in my seat?" The man was big, smelled worse than a badger mole during summer, and was probably just as ugly. Actually, Toph took that back. It was completely unfair to the badger moles, who were rather fluffy once one got used to them.

"Your seat?" Toph responded, "I'm the one sitting here."

"I got up to go to the bathroom. Now move, you little brat."

"Oh, I see. Sorry about that, sir." Ohev took Toph's hand and began to lead her away.

Toph was considerably less willing to move. With the interference and the actual match coming from different directions, she could actually make it out. "Oh really? I don't see your name on it."

"What?" the man asked, stunned anyone would defy him.

"Toph," Ohev hissed.

"I don't see your name on it!" Toph yelled back.

"Move you little brat!"

"Make me!"

The next thing Toph knew, she was reeling back from a blow to the face.

"Hey!" Ohev shouted, and a second later the man screamed in pain.

"You little brat!" His voice was oddly stilted and high pitched. The two began to scuffle, and Toph gripped the stone bench, trying to make out what was happening.

The fight was a chaotic mess. Compared to them, even the Hippo was a paragon of grace, restraint and patience. Toph noted with relief that the man didn't seem to know how to use earthbending at all, which put him on even footing with Ohev. The man was bigger, but Ohev made up for it by being faster. The fight was hard to make out, but the constant movement assured her that at least Ohev was still up. Toph shouted for help.

Suddenly, the earth shifted, and all movement stopped. "Hey, both of you knock it off." Toph recognized the voice. It was the announcer, Xin Fu. "Keep the earthfights to the ring."

"This little brat hit me first!" Toph could hear the man struggling. Xin Fu must have trapped them in earth.

"And I'd do it again, you big bully!"

"Sounds like you boys are still plenty mad?" Grunts of agreement. "Well like I said, no earth fights outside the rings. Which is why I'm inviting you both into the ring!"

"What?"

"That's right." Toph heard the crisp noise of Xin Fu flourishing a paper. "Next week is armature night. You boys wanna rumble? Then do it in the ring. Just sign here on the dotted line."

OoOoOoOo

"I can't believe you did that!"

"Did what?" Ohev asked.

"Fought that guy. It was amazing. He had to be at least twice as big as you and you just fought him with no hesitation. And then agreed to fight him again! I didn't know you had it in you."

"Well when he attacked you I….I just lost it. I still want to pound that guy. Attacking a blind girl half his size. Oh, that just makes me-" Ohev slammed his fist into his open palm. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, he only hit me once. What about you?"

"He got me a little but it's nothing."

Toph frowned. "Nothing, let me check." She moved her arms towards his face.

"It's nothing." Ohev struggled against her. "Really."

Toph pressed on, and managed to feel is face. It was wet. "Is this blood?" 

"...No."

But even as he denied it, Toph had pulled her hand back. "You idiot! I can smell it."

"I… I didn't want you to worry. It's not really that bad…."

"Idiot. Come on. We need to get you home."

OoOoOoOo

They were about halfway home when Ohev started hyperventilating.

"What's wrong?" Toph asked.

"I just…..I just …. I just agreed to fight that guy!"

"Yeah," confirmed Toph. "We discussed this earlier."

"But did you see- He's huge! He's like three times my size." Toph felt the slight breeze of Ohev waving his arms in panic.

"Again, we discussed that earlier."

"But, but, but I can't fight that guy! He'll pound me to a pulp!"

While Toph was blind, she still had eyes, and was thus capable of rolling them. "Fine, if you want to be a wimp, then just tell the announcer you changed your mind."

Ohev's voice was nearing hysterics. "Are you crazy? That was Xin Fu!"

"I know his name. He says it every time he announces."

Ohev grabbed Toph by the shoulders and turned her to him. Not only did Toph blindness make this completely pointless, but Ohev knew that. If he was panicking this hard…

Toph began to listen.

"You don't understand," Ohev started. "Xin Fu… You're practically royalty in this town, Toph, but I'm a servant boy. And sometimes I talk to the other boy's, right? Xin Fu doesn't just announce the rumbles, he owns them. He owns a lot of stuff. They say that Bei Fong may own everything topside, but Xin Fu owns everything underground."

Ohev swallowed. "Anyways, sometimes he makes contracts, doing people favors or lending them stuff. And if you don't deliver your end…. They say there was one guy who didn't pay, didn't think he needed to. So Xin Fu cut of his arms, then legs, then his… _you know_... then buried him alive. They never found the body.

Toph said, "If the body was never found, how do they know he was buried alive? And for that matter, if all that was already cut off, I think he would already be dead."

"Toph!" Ohev screamed.

Toph patted him on the back. "Calm down, you're going to be fine."

Ohev let out a deep breath. "Yeah, I just need to fight and lose quickly. It shouldn't be too bad. They don't let people die in the arena. You think you can bring some bandages?"

"You aren't going to lose either."

Ohev hesitated. "Toph, I really appreciate your confidence in me but I'm not that great."

Toph waved her hand dismissively. "And neither is he. That guy had no skill."

"So? He's five times as big as me."

"Last time you said he was three. Besides, this is an Earth Rumble, not a brawl. It's not about size, it's about skill and how you use it. Otherwise the Hippo would never lose a match."

"But I have no skill! I'm a servant, I barely earthbend at all. I probably couldn't even make a decent wall."

Toph put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Which is why I'm going to get you the best teacher in Gaoling."

"Master Yu? I really don't think your parents are going to let you hire him for me."

"No! Me." Ohev was silent for a while. Toph recognized the silence, it was something people did when they didn't want to say what was on their minds. "Out with it," she snapped.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I really don't think being able to make a nice pot is going to help."

"Not like that you idiot. I mean real earthbending."

"But-"

"You ever heard the expression 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach?' Well I defiantly can't." Toph laughed. "You know the badger moles were the original earthbenders, right? I had to make do with a bastardization of some of their techniques. But you… you could actually do them. I haven't studied them completely, but I did enough for a few weeks worth of training." Toph rubbed her hands together. "Trust me Ohev, when I'm done, that guy won't know what hit him."

OoOoOoOo

"Now lift."

Irregular ripples danced underneath her fingertips as Ohev earthbent. Toph could tell straight away his bending was an uneven, jerky affair. Rather than a clean, commanding break, the ground rippled sharply, then teetered with weaker aftershocks as Ohev clumsily ripped earth from earth.

Carefully, Toph slammed her other hand into the ground sending out vibrations. As they returned, she was able to get an idea of Ohev's stance. It wasn't much better than his earthbending! Sloppy. Even with her bound feet, she could probably manage a firmer stance than he was holding.

She sighed. This was going to be more work than she thought.

OoOoOo

Toph carefully felt the latest rock formation Ohev had bent. About the only thing right was the size. Sadly, that was the nicest thing she could say about her friend's work. First, it had taken too long to bend. Even Toph herself could have closed the distance before they were formed. Second, the shape was awful; jagged,awkward and barely more than a lump. As for its durability, when Toph hit the formation it broke in two, electing a groan from Ohev.

Toph sighed. She wasn't being fair, judging it against her earthbending. This was a fight, not at piece of art. The purpose was to hit someone with a blunt set of rocks from the ground and drive them back. As long as it hit the right place and wasn't sharp (drawing blood was against the rules), it would be fine. The things she really needed to work on were making him tougher and faster. If even she could break his rock formations….

OoOoOo

Toph smiled as see felt the tremors. They were still uneven, but now were much stronger and his stance was firm. That was what mattered. "That's great, now hold it."

"Hey, Toph?" Ohev grunted under the strain.

"Yeah?"

"I really appreciate you helping me, but don't you have to have to demonstrate something for Nu Wa soon?"

"Don't worry about it. I've got it more than covered."

OoOoOo

Toph left hand was carefully place on the underside of the stone table, and thus she felt the small, subtle vibration of the cup being moved across. "Toph, would be please refill my cup?"

"I can't. It's already full."

The room was silent, the only sound Nu Wa's tapping fingers. Finally Nu Wa picked up her cup and took a sip. As she set it down, Toph could feel the slight change in vibrations than marked a partially full cup. A few taps from Toph fingers helped confirm the amount in it. Silently, Toph refilled bent the pot over to refill the cup.

Nu Wa got up, and two more cups were set on the table. "Toph, could you refill the blue one, please."

Toph shook her head. "How? I'm blind."

Nu Wa hummed. "I'm perfectly aware the only reason you haven't told me outright how you are doing it is to take more time. Luckily for you, I'm actually interested enough to attempt to solve the little puzzle you've posed for me."

OoOoO

Toph felt the tremor, much bigger than before, and smiled. The rocks had been conjured up quickly, a strike confirmed their strength. Not nearly enough to face one of the professionals, but more than enough to face another amateur. Though really, it had only been a week. And yet in a week she had managed to turn Ohev into something that might be called an earthbender. Toph smiled, a sense of satisfaction more potent than all of Nu Wa's praise running through her.

OoOoOo

Another impact on the arena floor, followed by a softer impact on the ground.

"Let's give a hand to the victor!" There weren't many applauses. Not surprising, considering there wasn't much of an audience. Shocking really, people weren't too interested in seeing a bunch of amateurs duke it out. And amateurs they were; one of the nice things about the lack of people was it was much easier to 'see' the matches. Unfortunately they had to be the saddest things she'd ever observed. Toph was almost convinced she could have taken a few of these guys. Ohev was going to wipe the floor-

Xin Fu spoke up, "All right, will the next two contestants enter the ring?"

Toph smiled. "Ohev, that's you!"

"Yeah, I… I…." Ohev began breathing heavily. "I can't do this!"

"What?"

"I can't do this. All of them are at least twice my size. It's only been a week. There's no way I can do it-"

He was cut off mid-sentence by a hard slap.

"What are you doing?" Toph demanded. "You're just going to give up? What about all our training?"

"It was just a week. I'm not ready."

Some small part of Toph felt hurt at the last statement, but it was overrode by the majority which opted for 'angry' instead. "Idiot! None of these people are ready. Look at them. Do you really think my training was that bad?"

"No. No, that's not what I mean. You taught me more about earthbending than anyone." Ohev voice dropped to a mumble, "I'm just not good enough."

"So you think I'm stupid."

"What?" Ohev protested, "That's not what I-"

"Do you think I just tried to teach you on a lark? For the fun of it? I taught you because I knew you could be great. I believe in you. So do you think I'm stupid?"

"No."

"Then if you don't believe in yourself, believe in me. Because I believe in you."

"I….I…."

"What about Xin Fu?"

"I… I don't know." He paused, continuing his hyperventilating. "I could get out of town. Something."

Toph grabbed his hand. "Please, I don't want you to leave."

OoOoOoO

The match itself was nothing impressive. Ohev dominated it. One quick earth pillar to the gut and his opponent went down, _hard_.

OoOoOo

"I, I did it."

Toph put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't sound so surprised. I told you."

"Yeah." His voice was filled with relief. "So, time to head home?"

"Don't be silly, you won."

"Yeah?" Ohev asked in confusion.

"It's an elimination tournament." Toph tried and failed to hold back the amusement in her voice. "You advanced to the next round."

"I… did?"

Toph smiled. "Yeah. And if I understood the original announcer right. There are sixty contestants, but you didn't get seeded so you should only have five more matches."

"I… I…"

Toph patted him on the back. "Don't worry, there are at least thirteen more matches 'till the next round starts, so you'll have plenty of time to rest."

OoOoOo

The waiting was an eternity, but the next four matches themselves were over quickly. Most of the contestants were idiots with no sense of how to earthbend. Toph hadn't appreciated how much skill the real rumbler's had until now. Actually, in some ways Ohev's lack of training helped. The few opponents that actually had some training seemed too focused on elaborate, impressive routines over actual combat.

That said, there were a few with actual skill. And the other finalist was one of them. This guy knew what he was doing. He wasn't charging in. And he wasn't wasting time of flashy moves. Just a standard, steady bombardment of stone.

Toph gripped the stone edge of the bench tightly, erratically hoping that it would better help her to observe the match, and, by doing so, reveal a better situation. She had taught Ohev to make walls, but the man simply earthbent them down and resumed his bombardment. "Hey, you stupid bastard!" shouted Toph. "This is Earth Rumble, not stand back and shoot! Fight like a man!"

Unfortunately, not only did the man not listen, but Ohev apparently did and charged forward. "No, not you!" Toph shouted, but she could already feel it was too late, Ohev had committed to his course of action. The man flung more rocks, but Ohev seemed to counter them well enough, or at least he didn't slow down. Once he was within range, Ohev drove a shelf of earth straight towards the man.

And failed.

One problem with Toph current "sight" was that, while she could detect vibration, she was still working out what they meant. She could make out foot movement and the shifts in balance if they were big enough and she really concentrated, but discerning arm movements was far beyond her. The man threw his weight forward, and did something that broke the oncoming earth. She thought he hit back at it, but couldn't be sure.

Regardless, Ohev had thrown his attack and was now unguarded. The man coolly responded with another rock, and Toph could feel the impact as Ohev lost any balance. Two more blows came as Ohev tried to respond. Toph wasn't able to see the rest of the match, she was already up and running towards the arena. She was about halfway there when the Xin Fu called it off.

OoOoOoo

"I'm so sorry." Toph knelt by Ohev's side. She continued, "I was just taunting him. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Toph, it's fine, really." He sat up with a grunt. "I didn't even hear you. I just couldn't keep up the wall-making anymore and had to do something."

"I knew we should have worked on it more –"

"Toph. It's fine. The match was called off. I'm fine."

Toph shifted uneasily. "You don't sound fine."

Ohev gave another small wince. "I'm a little beat up. It's fine, nothing's broke." He pushed his arm forward so she could feel. "Really, it's nothing worse than a nasty fall."

"Glad to hear it, kid." Xin fu appeared out of nowhere. "Wouldn't want anyone getting them permanently injured here. The Earth Rumbles are all about fun."

"Yeah," Ohev agreed apprehensively. "Fun."

Xin Fu bent his knees so he was about level with them. "Hey, miss? Could excuse us for a moment? I'd like to talk to our contestant here. Man-to-man."

Toph took a deep breath. "As a matter of fact-"

"She would be glad to," Ohev cut in. "_Right_?" His voice had an edge of fear to it.

Toph deflated. "Fine." She headed to the edge of the arena. One advantage of being blind was her other senses seemed to work much better. People never seemed to _listen_. Which meant that "out of hearing range" for most people wasn't so for Toph.

"So, kid. Do you know why I held this little tournament?"

"… no?" Ohev offered.

"Well, it wasn't for the crowds to come, that's for sure." Xin Fu laughed. He lowered his voice somewhat. "You see, the rumbles are getting a little boring, a little standard. Everyone knows the participants. So, I'm looking for some new blood."

"And this tournament was to find someone." Ohev paused. "But I didn't win."

"You know, you're a pretty smart kid. But see, that guy? That guy's good, but he's not a rumbler. I suspect he's a former soldier, but he just doesn't get the rumbles. The rumbles are about both the fight and the show. Your girl knew what it was about; not boring rock throwing, people here want action, they want entertainment." Xin Fu took a breath. "But, you. You had it. Style, spunk, pizzazz. You actually fought to win. And that's why I'm making you an offer. To be the latest earth rumbler."

"I really don't think I'm rumbler material."

"Kid, I saw the way you fought a week ago, and I saw the way you fought now. You put some real effort into it, but I can see the improvement, just keep that up, and you'll be fine. Plus, and this is the best part, you're young enough no one will expect you to be good, just give it a good effort and you'll be fine. The Earth Rumbles are about ring-outs, not beating people to a bloody pulp. Can't have another fight if my best rumblers get sent to the hospital every time, can I?"

"I… I'm flattered, but-"

"Come on. I haven't even told you about the pay. It's five silver a match." Toph rolled her eyes. What a sham. He had to be making at least fifty times that per match, who would possibly accept such a utterly bullshit amount?

"Really?" Ohev's voice dripped with excitement. "That's more than my parents make in a month- I mean…"

"Don't worry, kid. I know plenty of people who come down here and don't want people knowing. The only thing I'm interested in is the Rumbles, and I won't trouble you with anything else. "

"Look… I."

"Still ain't interested? Eh."

"No, no!" Ohev quickly insisted. "That's not it."

"Well if you don't want to, I'm not going to force you. The rumbles are about fun and challenge. Nothing ruins that more than a participant who doesn't want to be there, so feel free to say no and stick to the stands. I think you could be great, but if you don't want to that's fine."

"Thanks, I really don't-"

"However. There is one other reason you might want to." Xin Fu's voice had the tone of a man dangling a bit of bacon over a hungry catdog.

"Huh?" Ohev asked.

"Well. I'm just speculating here," Xin Fu said. "But I'd bet that…" He paused, and then lowered his voice to a whisper. Toph leaned forward, but still couldn't catch what it was.

Ohev asked, "Do you really think so?"

"You should know better than me. But if you're not interested…"

"Well, maybe….."

"Now, tell you what, why don't you think about my offer? I'll see you at the next match and you can give your answer to me then."

OoOoOoO

Ohev didn't feel like talking about the conversation immediately afterward, and Toph didn't feel like bringing it up. It wasn't until they were walking back to the mansion that Ohev finally brought it up. "Hey, Toph, how do you feel about the rumbles? And the rumblers?"

Toph shrugged. "You know I love them both. We wouldn't go to every match otherwise."

"Yeah, well it just-"

"Xin Fu offered you a place?"

The silence was palpable.

"Good hearing, remember?" Toph added.

"You... you heard it all?"

"Well, at the end he whispered something, but other than that, yeah." Toph paused. "What did he whisper?"

"No- nothing," Ohev insisted.

_Now_ Toph was interested. "You're a terrible liar." She leaned forward. "Tell me."

"No! Look, forget about that. What do you think? About the offer."

Toph sighed. "Fine. Well, first I think the pay's way too low. If you get in, you should negotiate for better." Toph help up her hand. "But that's not all your interested in. Well, I think the rumbles are awesome. But when that last match happened." Toph gulped, the memory replaying in her mind. "I was so worried you might have been seriously hurt. I don't want that.

If it were me, the risk would be worth it. The glory, the rumble. I'd do it in a heartbeat, even if it was risky." Toph took a breath. "But I can't make that decision. You're going to be the one in the ring. You're the one with the danger and the glory. If you do, I'll support you, but honestly, you need to make your own decision. It's your choice, not mine."

They walked in silence for quite a while. "I think - I think I'll say yes."

Toph clapped her hands. "Then I'm going to need to work on new training."

"New training?" Ohev's voice had the edge of worry to it.

"Yeah. What I showed you may have been enough for beginners, but in order to get you ready, we're going to have to take it to the next level."

"But we have a month before the decision is even given, and probably longer 'till I start…."

"I know, that should be just enough time to get you into shape if we hurry." Toph rubbed her hands together. "Don't worry, I've got lots of ideas."


	3. Bounding

**Bounding**

"All right. And the match is off. Opps! You were to slow on that attack, looks like Fire Nation Man dodged. Now he's coming at you. Get a wall up quick." Toph felt the satisfying solid vibration as Ohev raised his wall. "Good, it looks like he couldn't get through and is coming in from the left. Stop him." Toph felt Ohev raise a large rock. Grinning, she stuck out her hand and prepared to earthbend. She wasn't capable of the massive feats of men, but a small patch in the right place - such as underneath Ohev's foot - was very much possible.

"AAAAHH!" Ohev's screamed as his balance caved and he fell to the ground. "Ow."

Toph clicked her tongue as she walked over. "Falling down on the job. Veeeeery, sloppy."

"That wasn't fair, Toph. You made me fall."

"So? If you had had a proper stance, it shouldn't have mattered. You shouldn't have let the earth shift under you like that."

"It wasn't that bad," Ohev insisted. "Can't we move on to something else?"

"No. How many times do I have to drill this in? Stance is everything." Toph paced back and forth like a general as she launched her speech. "Earthbending fights are all about the four S's: speed, strength and skill."

"That's three S's."

"Quite. You have to be quick enough to react to your opponents moves, strong enough to overpower him, andskilled enough to make those move. But all three of those are subordinate to the _fourth_ one: stance. Stance is everything, without a good stance, you'll be so focuses on resifting your feet you won't have time to react. A firm stance is what gives you strength. A firm stance is where all moves start from. Stance is what connects you to the earth, it is the very essence of earthbending. Stance is everything."

"I got it. I got it. But you made the earth shift. In a real fight-" Ohev's voice was on the edge of a whine. Toph wondered if this was how Nu Wa felt when she complained.

"In a real fight what? Fire Nation Man's going to wait politely while you throw a boulder in his face? No, he's going to be looking for any weakness he can exploit. You need to be good enough not only to raise the boulder, but to be able to keep the earth firm under you _at the same time_."

"All right. But I think you're a little too worried. It's just Fire Nation Man. He never wins." Ohev intoned confidently.

"Against other earth rumblers. But much as you might like to be one, _you aren't. _Not yet. Trust me, Fire Nation Man would have gone through that tournament like a hot knife through butter. The others always win against him because they're good, not because he's bad. Now back to work."

OoOoOoOo

The cups flew past each other, gliding above the surface of the table in an elegant display of pageantry. They flew just so, making it would appear (at least according to Nu Wa) as if they were about to crash, yet manage to seemingly avoid it each time. Finally the four cups settled in front of each of the participants.

Next, Toph summoned the serving pot, filling each of the cups in turn. There was an appreciative _aw_ from her parents. Toph smiled, but merely because the conductor of the tea ceremony was expected to show joy and good manners, not because she was proud of anything as silly as waving a few fine Earth-Ceramic cups around.

The rest of the production went smoothly. Nu Wa had to assure them that Toph was capable of refilling the cups safely, but aside from that, it went along quickly with her parents in sitting in mostly stunned silence. After the tea, Nu Wa and her parents departed to another room, while Toph was once again grateful that everyone else was clearly deaf.

"That was amazing," her father gushed. "I admit, when you first proposed this arrangement, I was rather apprehensive, but given your reputation I was willing to risk it. And this! How is it even possible?"

"She uses the stone table. Did you notice that most of the time she only had one hand visible? The second is underneath the table, feeling the vibrations the utensils make when they are placed down. The principle is based on badger mole sight." In their sessions, Nu Wa had rather quickly picked up on her missing hand. Figuring out what it had meant had taken the teacher much longer.

"I see. I never would have imagined - I must say, you exceed your already considerable reputation. That was ingenious. I can't believe you managed to think of something like that."

"Yes," Nu Wa replied, and her lie hurt more than it should have. A lot more, especially given Toph had been the one to insist Nu Wa take credit. When Toph listened in to her parents conversations she could hear them constantly talking about if it was worth it to send Toph away (even if "away" was only a few blocks), this would cement that it was.

Toph knew her parents. Even if Nu Wa told them that Toph had developed it, they would not accept it. They might say yes, but they wouldn't really. They'd still treat her like a doll. At best they might decide to show her off more, and those social functions threatened to interfere with Earth Rumbles time. Privately, Toph half-suspected they only consented to the late night sessions because it got her out of the house.

Her parents whispered something between themselves, then her father said, "I know you were planning to have another session. But could it perhaps wait until tomorrow? We'd like to have some form of congratulations for Toph." She blinked; that was unexpected.

Toph held her breath, praying Nu Wa wouldn't agree. Any other night it might have been okay, but tonight was not an option.

"I'm sorry, but no."

"No?" her father said, and Toph recongized his surprise for what it was. He hadn't really been requesting Nu Wa's permission, he had just been trying to be polite.

"No. The session tonight is vital. This was one of the first times Toph has done the tea ceremony without it being someone I specifically selected for training. As such it was her first real test and we need to discuss it."

"But surely it can wait."

"I'm sorry," Nu Wa said firmly. "It is fresh in her mind right now. It must happen tonight. Besides, do not true celebrations take time to plan? Perhaps you could do it some other night?"

"Yes, I suppose we could…"

OoOoOoO

Holding his hand, Toph could feel the shift in his stance as Ohev surveyed the crowd. "You know what, you were right. I needed more training."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. But if you want to tell Xin Fu you're backing out now…."

"No, no," Ohev remarked quickly.

"Hey, champ, you ready?" Speaking of Xin Fu, that was him right now. Without waiting for an answer, he began hustling them over. "I got a front row seat for your little lady. Specially reserved VIP seating, so there won't be any problem there this time. So get up there and go get them."

"Yeah-h."

"Nervous?" Xin Fu inquired.

"No-no."

Xin Fu laughed loudly and Toph heard him giving Ohev a hearty slap across the back. "Don't worry about it. I should tell you some of the stories of the other guys' first times."

One of the stagehands led Toph to her seat. It was part of a small "pit" area near the front of the arena. Around her various people hustled about. "Excuse me," the stagehand asked, "do you need anything else?" Toph gave a small shake of her head. She could use her earthsense well enough that someone talking in her ear was more a distraction than a help, and most people were terrible with descriptions anyways, telling her stuff she already knew and not what she needed to know.

"Ladies and Gentlemen." Xin Fu's voice cut above the usual din of the crowd. "It's time to get this Rumble on. Tonight, in this corner, we have the _un_stoppable, _in_exhaustible, _un_beatable Boulder!" Toph nearly choked. Ohev was supposed to be facing Fire Nation Man, not The Boulder. He didn't stand a chance. Toph finally stopped her internal panicking long enough to notice the cheering had settled down into a confused silence.

"I said The Boulder!" Xin Fu's voice was on the edge of annoyance, but quickly turned to confusion. "Hello, is The Boulder feeling like rolling away tonight? Get out here."

"He won't be coming," answered Fire Nation Man, Toph's mouth hung open, what was going _on_? From the silence around the stadium, she wasn't the only one.

"What?" asked Xin Fu, to all appearances as confused as she were.

"That's right. I sent him and all the other rumblers away with notes saying the Rumbles are being held in the caves outside town as a super-secret tournament."

"Wh—how—Why?" Xin Fu finally settled on a response.

"Because I'm tired of you slobs enjoying your filthy, uncultured, philistine little earth rumbles. It's time to add some culture to this place. Fire Nation culture!" He said with pure delight as he earthbent the part of the arena he was on up to create a miniature podium. "And we'll start with the Fire Nation Nation anthem. Oh burning-"

He was quickly drowned out by boos. Toph felt herself getting slightly nervous; the crowd sounded ready to riot.

Suddenly the earthen podium crashed down, sending Fire Nation Man tumbling. The crowd was stunned into silence. Xin Fu took the opportunity to insert his own commentary. "Well, it looks like someone isn't going to stand for this, but who can this mysterious new challenger be?"

The crowd went wild. Toph smiled as she recognized Ohev's earthbending. This had all been a production, but it was a very well-done one, and what better way to introduce a new rumbler?

"You nasty little half-pint," Fire Nation Man said as he crawled out of the debris. "You ruined by beautiful show. Just who do you think you are?"

Ohev didn't answer, simply sending another stone and silently declaring the rumble on.

OoOoOo

"That was amazing!" Toph gushed. "The way you just took him with a thrown rock followed by the earth shelf, one two punch. That was great." Toph mimicked the movements.

"I was just doing what you taught me," Ohev offered modestly.

"But seeing it in action!"

"…I fought before," Ohev mumbled.

Toph put her hand on his shoulder. "Trust me, what you did now and what you fought like at the tournament were worlds apart. You actually used your attacks in conjunction, weaving them together. It was great."

"Thanks." Ohev paused. "It was kind of cool, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I liked the 'silent warrior' thing you had going. No wasted dialogue, just fighting."

Ohev laughed nervously. "Don't tell anyone, but I was simply too nervous to talk."

"Oh." Toph laughed. "Well now I have something to hang over your head." They continued walking. "I do have one complaint."

"What?"

"When Xin Fu asked for your name at the end. 'Stone Servant' - really?"

"H-hey." Ohev flustered in embarrassment. "It's a cool name. Besides, we didn't talk about it earlier. I had to make something up."

OoOoOoOo

Toph lay against the rock. The sun on her face, a plum in one hand, cup of tea in the other, this was the life. Suddenly, the rock jerked to one side, and Toph nearly fell off. "Hey! Watch it."

"Sorry." Ohev grunted from below. "But it's really hard to keep my footing on the hill." Ohev took a deep breath.

"Is someone getting tired? You'd better step it up. We're only halfway through this." Ohev gave a groan. "Oh, quit belly aching. This is the exact same route Chanzu made me walk."

"You…. Didn't…. have…. a boulder."

"Trust me, it felt like a boulder. Besides, you're getting strength, balance, and coordination out of this. All I got was tiny feet."

"You know -" Ohev took another breath. " - I'd really feel better if you'd come down." Another deep breath. "You might... fall."

"Ohhhhh," Toph cooed. "You're worried about me. That's so sweet. Well, in that case, you better hurry up. Faster you're done, faster you finish, faster I get off." Toph paused to take another sip of her tea. "And the only other way I'm coming off is by falling."

"Toph-"

"Wooops. I think I'm feeling a little unsteady here." Toph hit the rock, sending a tremor through it.

"TOPH! That's not funny," Ohev managed to wheeze out.

OoOoOoOo

Nu Wa clear her throat. "Now then. You have mastered the tea ceremony. I believe it is time to move on."

Toph smiled. "And just what do you have in mind?"

"Since you prefer independence, I'm going to let you choose. First, every lady should know how to keep a clean household, removal of dirt without resorting to brooms and scrubbing. The second option is more artistic, earthbending painting."

"Wait. Isn't paint…. not exactly earth?" Toph hadn't much experience with paint, but from the one time her parents had freaked out about some getting on her, she remembered it being wet.

"Every paint has a base pigmentation that gives it its color," Nu Wa replied. "These colors are derived from both living and earth materials. While the paints derived from living materials are not bendable, those derived from earth are, and almost every color has some available version of earth-based pigmentation. The only color to have no known earth-based pigmentation available is indigo."

Toph considered her options. She didn't really see herself as some good at cleaning. But compared to paint…

OoOoOoO

Ohev stomped with his foot, sending a quake towards the Masked Earthbender. The Masked Earthbender was sure enough to avoid letting it break his stride, and responded with a shelf of earth. Ohev slammed down, breaking the shelf in two, the followed it up with his own wall. His opponent attempted to follow up Ohev's previous move, smashing through the wall, but Ohev's own held fast. Before the Masked Earthbender recovered, Ohev shoved the wall forward, forcing the Earthbender to the edge of the arena.

However, the rumbler proved to have a decent amount of fight in him and held fast at the edge, digging in his feet. The two combatants each stood still, pushing against one another without ever touching. Ohev tried to force the Masked Earthbender over the edge. Ohev was strong, but he still had a lot of training to go and the Masked Earthbender was no slouch. Slowly, ever so minutely that Toph might not have noticed if she had been confined to sight, Ohev's wall was pushed back.

Then, just as it looked like the Masked Earthbender might push through, the earth beneath his feet crumbled. He was so focused on the wall that he was completely unprepared for the unexpected angle of attack and instantly lost his footing, falling to the ground. The crowd went wild.

Toph smiled. Ohev was taking her lessons to heart.

OoOoOoOo

Toph felt the top of the ground. To her it was rough and bumpy, but that was compared to the delicate sculptures she could make. She was half-tempted to go over and smoothen it out, but that would take far too long. Besides, the construct would serve its purpose. Toph had made Ohev flatten one side of the hill into a relatively smooth slide while she herself had carefully created several round balls of stone, all about one foot in diameter, at the top of the hill.

"Now put on the blind fold," Toph instructed.

"Okay, but do you want to tell me what this is about?"

Toph groaned. "I told you. Your next match is with the Mole. You need to learn to sense the earth." Toph reached up, checking his blindfold.

"And I can't do it without the blindfold?"

"Because then you'd see with your eyes, not focus on the feet. Now I'm going to roll these down, and don't even think about moving your blindfold. I'll be able to tell." Which wasn't entirely true, she was beginning to discern arm movements, but the change that indicated individual hand movements were so delicate that it was nearly impossible. However, being able to detect the arm movements was good enough; if he went near the blindfold, she'd know. Toph reached down and picked up the first ball.

OoOoOoOo

Toph moved her arms, gathering the dust in the room into a single small ball, before guiding it outside. She paused, even if she couldn't see, she knew Nu Wa was running her finger along the floor, checking for anything missing. There wouldn't be, the dust was as easy to manipulate as any other earth Toph had felt.

The only problem had been that she was expected to do the entire thing standing up, which meant she couldn't "see" the room. She eventually settled for doing it the same way she'd always navigated the house: memorize the room. It wasn't as cool as the table-trick, but then it didn't need to be; rooms and furniture didn't move as you were cleaning them.

OoOoOoO

"Not another Stone Servant match," the man's voice had a loud, grating quality to it that seemed to carry far and made it hard to ignore. Toph frowned, and turned her attention back to Ohev's match.

"What wrong with him? He's doing great, just look at him," said another person. Toph smiled; that was right.

"And that's the problem. He's too good. Let's be honest here, the kid is a half-pint, he can't be older than my brother. You honestly think any kid that age could be that good?"

"But he actually does it…"

"Oh please," said the doubter. "It's all show. The wrestlers are losing on purpose."

The second man gasped. "They wouldn't do that!"

"Please, do you really think someone who was actually named 'Fire Nation Man' would be allowed to wrestle? He's obviously fake." There was some truth to that one at least, as Toph had learned from Ohev. Apparently Xiao had had a substantial debt to Xin Fu but had the good (or bad, depending on your point of view) fortune to be a moderately gifted earth bender. His persona was a production, but the fights were always real.

"Well, when you put it like that…."

"Of course when I put it like that, 'cause that's how it is." Toph's fist clenched. _No, it wasn't._ "I bet the half pint is the owner's son or something, living out his little fantasy. I swear, if someone doesn't drop-kick the brat soon I'm going to lose all respect for this."

Toph wanted to yell and pound the man. But she forced herself to stop. She remembered what had happened the last time, and this time Ohev was in the ring. She wasn't going to make him lose due to her temper. Instead she decided to get creative and turned to the man. "Hey, if you want to, I might be able to help."

OoOoOo

"Now put on the blindfold."

"Why do you want me to fight them blindfold.?" Ohev asked, "I beat the Mole."

Toph sighed. "Yeah, but the Mole, and my rocks, go along the surface of the ground the entire time. Most earthbenders don't do that, they make a stance, and the their rocks fly towards you, one tremor, nothing else. You need to learn how to predict it. And don't worry, these guys are chumps, perfect training for the first time."

OoOoOoO

Painting had not been a success. Toph could manipulate the paints just fine, but the actual painting was impossible. If she worked at it, she might have been able to intimidate other paintings by carefully feeling the texture to determine the pigmentation used, but even if it was possible, it wasn't going to be worth it. Creating something new was impossible. Toph didn't even get how it was supposed to work. Making things have distance on a piece of paper was simply insane. Luckily, Nu Wa had been willing to move on.

Toph felt the hard, smooth surface of object. "Crystal bending, that's it? No weird tricks, just another sculpting? Why didn't we do this earlier?"

"Firstly, because this is hardly 'another sculpting'. Crystal is the most difficult of all the shaping arts." Toph, recognizing Nu Wa going into lecture mode, focused her attention on the crystal. "Secondly, on a more personal note, there are the social implications. Traditionally, being able to bend crystal was taken as a sign a lady was ready for marriage."

This thing was really tough, much tougher than any stone she'd encountered.

Nu Wa continued, "This is actually where the custom of brides giving their fiancés gemstones came from. It used to be that the crystal bending was the masterpiece of the art of earthbending, the ultimate expression of her skill."

Toph wasn't going to let some stupid crystal beat her. She redoubled her efforts.

"Of course, many women did not have the skill they wished, and high class women would often simply buy appropriate jewelry."

Toph felt something odd. It was like the crystal was moving on its own. Vibrating.

"Eventually it became so ubiquitous that actually bending your own went out of fashion. Nowadays even non-earthbending girls are expected to present one and the type of stone is more a mark of her parent's wealth than any expression of skill-"

The crystal was shaking hard now, and emitted a high pitched wine. Instantly, Nu Wa stopped her lecture and slammed her hand around the crystal and Toph's own. For a second the room was silent save for the dying whine of the crystal as if quieted down, then Nu Wa smacked Toph across the face with her other hand, hard.

"Ow!"

"Do not do that again!" Nu Wa seethed with anger, and her hand was clenching Toph's hand so tightly the crystal was painfully digging into it.

"What? What did I do?"

Nu Wa took a deep breath, then unclenched her hand and took the crystal from Toph's hands. "Which brings me to the final reason." Her voice still had tone of someone trying very hard not to yell. "It. Is. Dangerous." Nu Wa set another crystal down on the table. "Watch with your earthbending."

With one hand she held the crystal down, and with the other she picked a cup off the table. As before, they crystal began to vibrate, Toph could feel the vibrations getting steadily stronger. As soon as the crystal began to ring, Nu Wa removed her hand and slammed the cup upside-down over it. A second later there was a loud crack, and Toph could feel the little explosion within.

Nu Wa removed the cup and picked up a piece. "Feel it." Toph reached out, she began to closer her hand around it, but pulled back as the piece pricked her. "Sharp, is it not? This is the danger of crystal bending. Crystals are not like other earth, they must be worked with, not stood against. You can not force a crystal to do anything. If try, they will rebel, and when that happens it can cause permanent injury." Toph nodded. If the crystal had been in her hands when it had exploded, those shards could have ripped into her. "And even a small amount of damage can make it nearly impossible to perform the delicate hand motions needed for refined earthbending."

OoOoOoO

Xin Fu dropped his arm and the match was on. Ohev started with a row of flat spikes, but the Hippo easily stomped those down before going on an attack of his own. Ohev was forced on the defensive, using his mobility to avoid the attacks.

"Get in there. You can take him!" Toph yelled, and Ohev responded with a hard stomp to the earth, sending a quake at The Hippo.

With one foot stomp The Hippo stopped it cold. "My turn," he said smugly. The Hippo began jumping up and down, sending multiple shock waves through the arena. Ohev's stance training paid off, and he was able to keep his balance. Opting for closer combat, he coated his fists with earth and used his bending to launch himself at the Hippo.

The two scuffled in close combat, Ohev making good use of his superior speed. Yet the Hippo was far tougher, and while their earthbending power might have been equal, their strength was not. Ohev broke off, retreating to the other side.

Toph clenched her hands. "No," she said to herself as his retreat left his back exposed to Hippo, who obliged with a thrown rock. The stone mass streaked towards him, and then, without even turning around, Ohev caught it with one hand. Toph grinned as Ohev turned around and hurled the boulder back at The Hippo.

To his credit, The Hippo reacted to this turn around admirably, catching the rock with him mouth. But before he could crush it, Ohev shot a flat stalagmite of earth directly into his stomach. The Hippo spat the rock out with a cry of pain and doubled over, clutching his stomach. Ohev moved to capitalize on his advantage, throwing the unresisting Hippo out of the arena.

The crowd, and Toph, went wild.

OoOoOoOo

Not that she would ever tell anyone, but for one of the "women's arts" crystals were actually kind of cool. They could make cool noises. If you bent them right, the crystals could vibrate safely, and if you knew how, you could determine the noise that came from them, creating music. Toph was no musician, but it was pretty cool. Some of the crystals gave off light, and by bending them just right she could change that. Since Toph couldn't actually see it, this was less cool.

Toph slowly felt the crystal underneath her hand push upward. This - _this_ was the coolest part of crystals. Unlike normal earth, you didn't just shape it, you could make them _grow_. It was like a plant; all you needed was a seed and some earth. Slowly, Toph coaxed the crystal upwards.

Once she was finished, Nu Wa snatched it up and began inspecting it. Toph could hear the flicks as Nu Wa propped it. Finally, after several minutes she spoke. "This is amazing," she said breathlessly. "I can't find anything wrong with it. It's… flawless. I… I can't even tell it was bent."

Toph smiled. Her ability to see with vibrations really paid off some times.

OoOoOoOo

Toph concentrated, the brought down the small wall of earth serving as the 'break'. Released from its bonds, the boulder thundered down the hill dominating all other vibrations. Toph could feel its massive weight actively carving into the hill as it passed by. Ohev stood at the bottom, ready to cleave it in two and-

Toph's jaw dropped as she felt the miniscule vibrations, nearly, but not quite, lost in the roar of the boulder. He had dodged? He had dodged! Toph was nearly incoherent as she felt the boulder coming to a rest, very intact, and not at all stopped.

Toph sprinted down the hill, anger overriding the protests of her feet. She caught Ohev as he was dusting himself off. "What was that!"

Ohev sighed. "I. Moved." He grit out.

"I know! You dodged! What sort of wimp are you?"

"A living one!" he shouted back. "Toph, that boulder was going to crush me."

"And if you're going to be such a wimp, so's the other one! You going to run away from him too?" Toph's voice dripped with sarcasm, "I can see it now, the great Stone Servant running out of the ring."

Ohev took a deep breath before responding. "He's a third the height. And not trying to kill me. Besides, I've stood up to several boulders _his_ height. I don't see why I need to stand up to one that's four times my size."

"Because it's good training. What sort of earthbender moves? I can't believe you wimped out!" Toph threw her hands in the air.

"I can't believe you're being so unreasonable."

Toph paused. Finally, she sighed. "Fine. Go help them move the boulder up."

"Were you listening? I'm... _not_... doing it."

"Okay!" Toph shouted back. "You don't have to. Just move it up and we'll do something else. We can revisit this tomorrow."

"I'm not changing my-" Ohev groaned in exasperation. "Fine. Whatever."

Toph followed him up. Once the boulder was at the top, Ohev held it in place while Toph set up the 'break'. "All right, lets head down. I want to talk to you, about something else."

The walk down was silent, when they reached the bottom Ohev spoke. "Alright Toph, what-"

"Toph concentrated. It wasn't easy, bending from so far away, but if she pushed herself to her limits, she could still managed to weaken the 'break' enough that the boulder broke through and began rolling down.

"Toph! What are you doing? I told you I'm not doing it."

"Fine. Move out of the way. I won't stop you."

The boulder began rolling down the hill. Toph felt the slight shift in Ohev's stance as he looked from the boulder to her. "Toph! You're in the way! It's going to crush you!"

Toph grinned. "Not if you stop it."

The rumble of the boulder grew louder. "Toph, this is insane. Get out!"

"No." A second later, Toph felt the earth move beneath her. Quickly she thrust her arms into the earth. Normally she'd never had the strength to keep Ohev from moving her if he wanted, but for now she only needed to hold on for a few seconds…

The boulder was nearly on top of Ohev when she felt it shatter in two. Toph smiled. "See, I knew you could do it-"

Ohev voice was nearly inarticulate with rage. "What! Were! You! Thinking!"

OoOoOoO

Toph curled up in her bed, trying to think about sleep and nothing else.

Stupid jerk. She's been trying to help him. Why couldn't he see that?

So what if she'd sat there? She hadn't really been in any danger, he was right there. And he destroyed the boulder, just as she knew he was.

Idiot. Now the jerk wasn't talking to her. And it had been an entire week, without even letting her train him. Now the championship match was only a week away. If he didn't let her go she'd… she'd….

She had to find some way to make this up.

OoOoOoO

Toph crept silently along her parent's room. She'd long memorized the layout. Slowly her hand crept to her mother's jewelry box. Her heart raced, if she was caught, she'd be grounded enough to insure that she'd never see the match.

Carefully, she opened it and felt around for one of the diamonds. With expert care she began to bend it, coaxing, not forcing, the smallest sliver away. Enough that it wouldn't be noticed under anything but the most detailed inspection. She didn't need much, just a tiny seed. And once she finished, she could simply return it.

OoOoOo

Not all crystals were equal. Some were easy to bend. Some were hard. Some were delicate enough they could actually be brute-forced without shattering explosively. Diamond was not one of them. In fact, Diamond couldn't even be exploded. It was simply far too tough.

Toph carefully placed the coal she'd taken from the stores on the starter seed. Nu Wa was often fond of comparing the crystals to plant. Like plants, they could grow in many environments, but each had its preferred soil, and for diamonds that was coal. Carefully, she began growing the diamond.

Of all the crystals, diamond was not only the hardest to bend, but also the hardest to grow. While some crystals - such as quartz or glowcrystal - could spawn fast enough to move beneath your hand, diamond did not. It grew slowly, incredibly slowly, so that an hour of labor might not even show any visible growth. If she had been willing to compromise her standards, Toph could have made it grow faster, introducing imperfections to accelerate the growth. Ohev wouldn't have noticed. But Toph was not willing to compromise herself like that. This was a gift, it demanded her best.

The hardest part, however, was the imperfections. Not avoiding them, but rather the intentional ones. A perfect diamond has only one shape, a pretty shape, but flat and boring. Toph did not do boring. In order to introduce variability, angles, and multiple growths, imperfections must be worked in. Specific and directed imperfections, that beckoned the crystal to grow as she willed. Compared to working and directing specific imperfections, avoiding the others was nothing.

OoOoOoO

Toph turned the creation over in her hands. It was the day of the tournament, and Ohev still hadn't come. She caught her breath, preparing herself to seek him out. Slowly, the door to her room creaked open. "Toph?" Ohev asked, "You ready to go?"

"Ohev! What are you doing here?"

"Xin Fu sent a messenger that he wants me there early, championship and all that." At one time Toph might have been worried that Xin Fu knew who they were. But over the last year he'd proved as good as his word, not bothering them at all as long as the rumbles happened. "So we need to get going."

"I thought..." Toph's stopped as she composed herself. "I thought you weren't coming. That you were still mad at me for making you face the boulder."

"Toph." Ohev's voice was quiet, and he sounded slightly hurt. "I'd never let something like that stop me from taking you, I know how important this is to you. And I wasn't mad at you for making me face it, I was mad that you put yourself in danger."

"Oh." Toph paused. "Look, I made something for you as a sort of…." She struggled for the right word, a word that didn't begin with 'a' and end in 'pology'. "Gift! A good luck charm for the match." Toph pulled out the figurine.

"Wow!" Ohev asked breathlessly, turned the statue over in his hands. "Is that me?"

"Look at the base," Toph instructed.

"It's The Boulder! I'm standing on top of him!" Ohev said delightedly. " And it even has a little championship belt. Wow, Toph, it's beautiful."

"Yeah, and it's going to be even more beautiful when you do it in real life."

OoOoOoOoO

Of course things were never as easy in real life. The match was a brutal all-out slog, with each contestant pushing the others to their limits. The Boulder sent a rock, but Ohev caught in his right hand and counter attacked within while driving a second rock with his left, before stomping to disorientate his opponent. The Boulder managed to keep his footing and smash through the projectiles, countering with an earthen shelf.

Ohev propelled himself away and kicked a section of stone to distract The Boulder. Going for the same a gut punch-stalagmite that had beaten The Hippo. The Boulder was ready, simply used his earthbending to absorb the blow, letting it crumple as it hit his abs. Regaining momentum, The Boulder began creating wall after wall of earth, launching them at Ohev as soon as they were made. Ohev could stop them, but each bit of the rapid and merciless bombardment forced him back little by little. Toph hand's went to her face.

Finally, Ohev was driven to the edge of the arena. The Boulder reached into the ground, conjuring a massive version of his namesake. Ohev was too tired and battered to move out of the way in time. The Boulder threw the boulder straight at him. Ohev thrust his hands forward, trying to crack the boulder. He managed, but he was far more tired that he had been during practice a week ago. He was driven back to the very edge of the arena, waving his arms as he tried to regain his balance.

"The Boulder declares this match... OVER!" With that claim, The Boulder picked up an insultingly small rock and flicked it towards Ohev. It hit, driving Ohev over the edge and he was falling falling _falling_. Toph hand's shot up from the seat, she could watch anymore.

The crowd gave an _ooooh _ of appreciation.

"Folks," Xin Fu announced loudly, "it looks like The Boulder was wrong. This match is not over yet!"

Toph set one finger down, and then cheered with glee. Ohev had thrust out a small shelf of the arena over the edge, keeping himself from falling. It was iffy, but it was part of the arena, and the first rule of the rumbles was "it it pleases the crowd, it's legal".

His near defeat seemed to fill Ohev with new vigor, and Ohev use the ledge as a catapult, propelling himself back into the arena. Suddenly, Toph had an idea. "The dust. Blind him!" Ohev apparently managed to hear her, as he swept with his foot, kicking up dust through the arena.

The crowd, and more importantly, The Boulder, were blinded. Toph smiled. Only she and Ohev could really feel what was going on. It was like her own private beatdown. And a beatdown it was; without the ability to see, The Boulder's attacks were useless. He couldn't even defend himself against the Stone Servant. Ohev didn't use anything fancy, just basic stone throwing and earth movement, but soon even the mighty Boulder was worn down. As The Boulder stood on his last legs, Ohev gave a swish of his arms, and pulled the ground out from underneath him.

When the dust settled, the crowd saw Ohev, standing on top of the Boulder, in as close to the pose of the figurine as possible. For a second all was silence, then Xin Fu spoke. "It looks like we have new champion!"

The crowd went wild, and Toph resolved to fix the moment in her find forever. It was perfect, the culmination of all their work.

She was willing to try to forget about Ohev collapsing a few seconds later, however.


	4. Boundaries

Life Bound, Part II  
**Boundaries**

The Boulder left the ground, flying outside the ring. At the last second another tremor came, and the crowd gave an _ahhhh_ of appreciation. Toph clenched her fists. The Boulder was copying Ohev's last minute save from last year. How cheap. Luckily, Ohev was prepared and simply earthbent the slab, flipping it upside-down and neatly depositing The Boulder on the ground.

The crowd roared with appreciation. "Your winner, and still the champion. The Stone Servant!" Xin Fu shouted. The cheering grew even louder. "And now, to make things even more interesting, I'm going to offer a sack of silver pieces to anyone who can defeat the Stone Servant in battle."

Toph was surprised, silver? She'd heard about this from Ohev, who'd heard about from the other rumblers. After the Championship, Xin Fu would offer a large sack of money to anyone who could beat the champ. The sack's contents depended on how confident Xin Fu was feeling about the champion and in what condition they were; which was why nothing had been offered last year. Silver was good but Xin Fu could have been offering gold if Ohev wasn't so winded. Still, Toph didn't think anyone could be perfect after fighting the Boulder.

The crowd became silent. "Well, is no one willing to face him?"

"I will!" shouted a voice shouted from the crowd.

Toph paused. What was a _girl_ doing challenging the champion? For that matter, what was a girl doing in the rumbles at all? Or was she mistaken? The voice was somewhat high pitched, but what had really thrown her off was the stance. It was so light, barely touching the ground at all, but, if she concentrated, she could catch the longer foot.

So not a girl, just a light-weight idiot. Probably had a bunch of his buddies convince him that, since Ohev was his age, he could take him. Toph settled back for a relaxing crushing of the upstart. Unfortunately the two combatants didn't seem to be getting with the program. They were just standing there. "Stop standing around and FIGHT!" Toph yelled. A few exited shouts of approval from the crowd backed her up.

Ohev finally launched his attack, and the boy-

What? The boy disappeared. Completely. Had Ohev knocked him out of the ring? Toph hadn't even felt the blow connect. The crowd cheered, and Toph felt her fists clench. They were cheering for the opponent. That wasn't fair, Ohev was the champion. Toph force her hands back to the stone in order to focus on the match. Once Ohev knocked him out they've be cheering for him. Ohev launched another attack, this time behind him.

What was going on?

The only reason Toph even knew the boy had attacked was that Ohev went flying. Ohev managed to bend the edge of the platform again and got back into the ring. Toph frowned. That was stupid, why had the kid let Ohev get back up? The only reason it had worked in the previous championship was nobody had expected it, but the kid had to have seen Ohev counter that very move.

The fight continued, and Toph grew more and more frustrated. She couldn't sense half the fight. The opponent was nearly impossible to detect, and occasionally would simply disappear entirely. Nor could she see his attacks _at all_. He had to be using some unique form of earthbending, but what form could mask a person's movements so? And why bother? Most people saw by sight. Had this sick bastard worked out Ohev's advantage and came up with a way to counter it?

If so, it was working. Ohev was giving it his all and making a fight of it, but he was being driven back again and again, only barely managing to bend handholds or walls to keep himself in the ring. His opponent, the twinkletoes, was the fastest earthbender to ever enter the ring, and used his mobility to attack at odd angles. In fact, twinkletoes was kind of wimpy. He almost never faced Ohev head on. What sort of cowardly earthbender was he? Whatever he was, the crowd was going nuts. Toph felt her blood boil and her teeth grind together.

Finally, after a long and grueling slog, Ohev was throw out. Toph felt unshed tears sting her eyes. After coming so far, being the champion, only to be upstaged by some upstart _kid_ - it just wasn't fair. The only consolidation was from the way he got up she could tell Ohev wasn't too harmed, at least not nearly as much as he should have been given the way he was flung around.

Xin Fu spoke up, "While I enjoyed that match as much as anyone else. I'm afraid it was not legal. This is the _Earth_ Rumble, not the All-Bending Rumble." Toph was confused, had a firebender entered? Was Ohev burned?

The crowd roared, and this time it wasn't with approval. "You didn't make a rule!" "He won!" "Cheap!" Yet one single cry rose above the others. More and more of the crowd joined in, until it became a unanimous, angry chant:

"AV-A-TAR."

Toph's earthsense had improved much over the last year. Even in the midst of all the interference, she could read the fine details of Xin Fu's body. His shift in stance, his heart racing. Right now, rule one - "the crowd is always right" - was conflicting with rule zero - "whatever makes me money."

OoOoOoOo

"I cannot believe he gave him the win," Toph threw a punch in the air.

"I just can't believe the Avatar was here." Ohev's voice was filled with as much, or even more, frustration than Toph's. "I mean, doesn't he have better things to do?"

"Yeah. Hello, shouldn't you be saving us from the Fire Nation? And he airbent! How fair was that?"

"Ugh. I can't describe it. I couldn't even counter it. It's frustrating, and he would just move about."

"Yeah, I couldn't even feel him. And I can't believe Xin Fu let him had the prize. What the heck? I thought this was supposed to be Earth Rumbles?"

"Yeah," said Ohev. "Xin Fu said that the crowd was going to tear us to bits if he wasn't given it. I just can't believe the Avatar has to swoop in to our town and fight."

Toph sighed. "At least we won't have to deal with him again. He's supposed to move around a lot."

OoOoOoOo

"Toph. I'm so glad your back from your lessons." Her father's voice was dripping with delight. Far too much. "We have an unexpected guest."

Toph nodded. That meant a production. She wondered what minor nobility had wondered into Gaoling this- oh no.

"Yes," her mother cheerfully confirmed her fears. "The Avatar himself has decided to grace us with his presence."

OoOoOoOo

Toph may have hated them, she may have wanted to throttle the smug bastard, but she was a hostess. She could have put on a smiling face to a group of Fire Nation soldiers who had just come in from burning the rest of Gaoling to the ground.

As she arrived in the dining room, the guests were already seated. A quick round of introductions followed. The Avatar had two companions; a boy, Sokka, whose Water Tribe name clearly marked him as the Avatar's waterbending instructor, and a girl. Toph had no idea why she was there. Given the way they acted, Toph assumed she was Sokka's sister, but even then…

The servants snuffed out the candles, and then, with a wave of her hand, Toph brought the glow crystals to life. The guests gasped. With one hand, she modified the crystals, making them play a soft melody while gently cycling through what Nu Wa referred to as "the colors of the rainbow". With the other, the cups were set. The guests, as always, awed in appreciation, perhaps even more than usual. Finally, one by one, Toph poured the tea into the cups. The waterbending instructor, Sokka, _oohed_ in appreciation. "I'm going to say this again; this is the best use of bending ever. Why can't you do this Katara?"

So, Toph thought, his sister was a waterbender as well.

"Because you can do it yourself, rather than being lazy," she shot back. The pot jiggled slightly as Toph stifled back a laugh. She could get to like this girl.

They began drinking their tea, while Toph kept one hand on the table. After a few moments of silence, her father began speaking, "May I ask why you have chosen to grace this humble household with your presence?"

"Huh?" The Avatar looked around in confusion. "Oh yeah! I'm looking for an earthbending teacher."

"Ah." Her father put his hands together. "In that case, perhaps you should approach Master Yu. I understand he is an excellent teacher."

The Avatar reached behind his head. "Yeah. I went there. I don't really think he's right for me. That's why I came here."

Toph's nearly bit her tongue.

"I'm sorry," said her father. "but most of my business dealing are in trade goods, not mining or construction. With the war, many men have joined the army. I could perhaps recommend a few generals I know." Her father loved his name dropping.

The Avatar was unperturbed. "No thanks. I was actually thinking-"

"-that the food smells ready to eat," Toph interjected. Over the past year, she had been working with Nu Wa to not merely perform a tea ceremony, but upgrade it to an entire meal performance. If Toph were honest, it was because she didn't really have a whole lot of other things to learn, but it kept them occupied for a few months.

The plates and tableware came flying in. They landed on the far end of the table, and Toph began to move the so that they appeared to "dance" on their way to each person's place. Before any conversation could take place she quickly began floating in the other dishes, setting them down loudly on the table. Once they were all deposited, she clapped her hands. "Well, dig in everyone."

"...Yes," Lao added, slightly confused.

The meal began in blessed silence, but soon the Avatar had to open his darn mouth. "Actually, I think that maybe I could find a teacher here."

"_Here_? I'm sorry, Avatar," her father replied, "but I am no earthbender, and none of the servants are masters."

"Really? Because- _ugchack_!" His hands flew to his throat, as a Earth-porcelain spoon full of porridge shot into his mouth.

Toph could feel it as the table turned to stare at her. "I just thought the Avatar should try some of the rice-porridge. It's utterly divine."

"…Thank you, but please try to hold you enthusiasm, we are having a _conversation_." Toph recognized her father's tone, 'this is someone _important _please try to disappear until I need you.'

Unfortunately, the Avatar persisted in trying to expose her. When he tried to talk about being at the Earth Rumble, his porridge bowl jumped into his face. Maybe _now_ he could take the hint.

Apparently _something _got through. As the three began whispering through themselves. Finally, they stopped and the Avatar spoke up again. "I'm not feeling so good…"

"Are you alright?" her father asked.

Before anyone else could reply his instructor, Sokka, began yelling. "Does he look all right? Look at him, he's clearly not all right! Oh this is bad. Quickly, he needs air! Help he move him."

To Toph's surprise, her father got up immediately and began helping move the Avatar, rather than asking for a servant. Maybe it was the worry of having a guest die, maybe it was the fact that it was the _Avatar_ that had him flustered, maybe it was just that the waterbender had a commanding voice.

"And a calming maternal presence." He added as they were halfway out the door, promoting her mother to get up.

"You wanted to talk?" Asked the other girl.

"Huh?"

"We thought you were trying to tell us you wanted to talk alone, that's why Sokka got your parents to leave."

"No."

An awkward silence hung over the table between them. Finally, the other girl spoke up, "Then why did you keep attacking Aang?"

Toph sighed at the edge of accusation in the other girl's voice. "Look, my parents don't know about the rumblers, and they wouldn't approve. So _please_ don't tell them."

"_Oh_."

There was another moment of silence.

"Toph, right?"

"Yeah." Toph really didn't feel like talking, but she was still a hostess.

"That was really impressive. I didn't know earthbending could be used like that."

Toph shrugged. "The earth tea ceremony is pretty common." At least among the nobility, though even peasants could managed a decent cup according to Nu Wa. But this was the Avatar, someone in the Earth Kingdom should have done it for him once already.

"King Bumi preformed one for us, but it wasn't as elaborate."

Toph nodded, exactly like she thought. Only, something bugged her about the sentence. "Wait, _he_ preformed it for you?"

"Yeah. He moved the cups and the pot, but the crystals just grew. They didn't change or play music." That was weird, but then her parents had always said the King of Omashu was mad. The girl continued on, oblivious to Toph's thoughts. "Of course, we thought he was going to kill us, so it wasn't as fun." Yup, mad.

More silence reigned. Toph felt compelled to be the one to break it this time. "So, Kaa...?"

"Katara."

"Katara," she began, "what are you doing traveling with the Avatar?"

"Well, I originally went with him to learn waterbending. There were no benders to teach me at the South Pole. But right now I'm the Avatar's waterbending teacher."

Toph was surprised. Another girl trainer. She hadn't really been interested in the conversation until now, but this demanded investigation. "Do you find it hard to teach him?"

"Not really. He's a very eager student most of the time. I just have to show him the moves."

"'Show him the moves'?"

"Yeah. I have to help with a few pointers sometimes, but mostly he's good, if a little distractible."

Toph was confused, how could she _show _him the moves? Maybe it had something to do with waterbending. "So, what's waterbending like? I mean, how is it different from earthbending?"

"Here, let me show you." Katara moved her arms in a circle. Toph could feel some of the tea leave the cups, but nothing beyond that.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't see."

"You can't?"

Toph motioned to her eyes. "I'm blind."

"But-"

"I can tell where stuff is from the vibrations in the earth, and tell how people are earthbending based on movement. I don't know how waterbending works. Could you describe it, what it's like?"

Katara started and stopped several times. "It's sort of… it like… it's more… _flexible_ than earthbending. We shift between offense and defense. The basic attack in waterbending isn't a ball of water, it's a whip."

Toph tapped her fingers. Whips weren't very big, maybe that was it? "So it's lighter? Not as… heavy as earthbending?"

"Well, I guess…. Most of the time, I have to carry all my own water with me. But if we're near a river or ocean I can to some pretty impressive waves."

"And those are big?" There went that theory.

"Oh yeah. At the North Pole, Aang took out the Fire Nation fleet with several of them."

Toph had never been to the sea, and mentally tried to translate it into earthbending terms. A navy would be like an army, so it would be like on man taking out an entire army… "But you can't make ones that big, right?"

"No, I can't. He's the Avatar, the Avatar State is… Amazing. Did you know Kyoshi separated an entire island in it?"

Toph was vaguely aware Kyoshi was the Avatar before Roku but, aside from a quick name on a list, Toph didn't know she had done anything. If the Avatar State could make her that powerful, it was no wonder the Fire Nation feared Aang so. "So do you do waves?"

"Yeah. I can do some decent ones." Katara gave a slight chuckle. "Actually, I originally freed Aang from the iceberg because I was mad as Sokka. I wasn't trained at the time and accidentally bent it apart."

Toph didn't reply. She was trying to think. It didn't make any sense, how was she able to bend so?

"Look," said Katara, scooting her chair back. "It's been a while. I'm going to look for Aang. Do you need me to help you?"

"No!" Toph replied angrily. "I can get around in my own hou-" Toph's jaw dropped as Katara's feet hit the floor. Suddenly, everything made sense. She'd been thrown off by the voice and name, but now she knew why Katara was able to bend such large amounts.

"It something wrong?" asked the waterbender as he leaned forward.

"No." Her cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. "It's just... I didn't realize you were a guy."

"What?" Katara drew back, his voice filled with a mix of anger and offense.

Toph bowed her head. "I am so sorry for my mistake. Please forgive me."

"I'm not a guy!"

"...You're not?"

"No! Do I look like a boy?"

"I can't see," Toph snapped back.

"Yes, but - but what would make you think I was a boy?"

"Your stance."

"My… stance?"

"Yeah, your feet, you stand like one."

"O-okay?" Katara voice had the same tone Toph used whenever something described what something looked like. "Look, I'm going to go find Aang."

Toph felt her footsteps. They were still like a boy's. She couldn't figure it out. Was it some sort of odd shoe or something? No girl should be able to walk like that. It just didn't make any sense.

A moment later, Toph released her hand from the table and followed Katara. She had to figure out what was going on.

OoOoOo

They found Ohev, Aang and Sokka out in the garden. "Hey!" Aang shouted hello. "We were about to come looking for you!"

Toph gave a polite wave and walked over to Ohev. She whispered to him, "What's going on?"

"Aang was actually looking for a teacher," he murmured back.

"I know that. Anything else?"

"Not really."

They two turned back to the group and Toph gave a wide smile. "So I understand you're looking for Ohev to train you?"

"Yeah," said Aang. "He was really great-"

"The way he just took out The Boulder," Sokka interjected. "Bam, swish! Oh, it was epic."

"Yeah," Aang agreed hesitantly, "but also that he listened to the earth. He felt the attack as they came and responded."

Toph smiled. "Well, I think I can do you one better. How would you like to meet the person who taught him everything he knows?"

"Really? That would be great! Could you take us to him?"

"Her," Ohev replied.

"Huh-" Aang paused, likely seeing the grin that threatened to split Toph's face. "You're his teacher?"

"Yup."

"And you'd train me?"

"Sure. I'd have to work it in with Ohev's, but having another person would actually be useful."

"Awesome," Aang paused. "Wow, that was a lot easier than expected."

OoOoOoOoO

They all sat down on the grass, and the three travelers regaled them with stories about their adventures. "...so then you've never guess what happened."

"What?" Toph leaned forward.

"The big furry paralyzing thing went nuts, and ended up getting all of them." The group enjoyed a round of laughs.

"So what happened to Zuko and Zhao?" Ohev asked. "They aren't still chasing you, are they?"

"No," Aang said, "at least I don't think so. We haven't seen them since the North Pole." Toph felt the Avatar shift to the others for confirmation.

"I think I saw Zuko on a wanted poster," Sokka said thoughtfully. "I don't think I've seen anything about Zhao."

Toph was confused. "Wait, why's he wanted?"

Sokka shrugged. "I dunno. I don't even try to figure out Fire Nation politics. Maybe it had something to do with the fight up North?"

Ohev shifted his stance worriedly. "But they're gone. So no one else is chasing you right now, yeah?"

"Well, the Fire Nation's always trying to catch me. I mean just a week ago we had that girl at Omashu with the blue fire."

"And," said Katara, "the one who could paralyze people, completely shut off their bending." Toph felt the waterbender shudder.

"I see," Ohev replied. "Could you, excuse us for a moment?" He gently led Toph away. Once they were a sufficient distance away, he began speaking, "I'm starting to think this is a bad idea."

"Why?"

"Well, the Fire Nation has been following them all over. What if they come here?"

That thought was not a pleasant one. "But the Fire Nation doesn't know they're here. Right?"

"They found them every other place they went. Plus everyone in the arena saw them. If it gets out… I..."

Toph nodded, it was a sobering thought. "So you don't think I should help?"

Ohev sighed. "Yeah. It's not like I don't want to help. He needs to learn, especially if the comet is that bad. But... but I don't think we should be the ones to do it. I don't think I could stop the Fire Nation if they came here."

Toph sighed. "Yeah." The two of them headed back towards the group. "Look, guys, I'm sorry, but I can't teach you."

The three made various noises of surprise and disappointment. "Why not?" demanded Katara.

Ohev repeated their reasons.

"That's not a problem," said Aang happily. "We can just take you with us, Appa, my flying bison, could take you with us."

Ohev said, "I really, really don't think it would work."

"Yeah," Toph chimed in. "That sounds nice, but I really can't. I can't fight at all, and I just don't think it would work."

"What, why?" Katara asked, sounding surprisingly offended.

"Earthbending's different than waterbending." Toph felt a pang of envy for someone who could bend just as well as the boys, and for a second she wished she had been born a waterbender. "I just don't have the strength."

"You don't… have the strength?" Katara was utterly confused.

Toph shrugged. "I can barely move a rock my own size. That's why I'm a trainer and not in the ring myself."

"Oh."

The silence hung over the group like a weight, and Toph wished something - anything - would act as a distraction.

"Sometimes," her mother had once told her, "very rarely, the universe will comply with your silent wishes." Toph feet were near useless, but when The Mole was tunneling straight towards you, it was hard to miss no matter how bad your sensing was. Toph heard Ohev turn to greet him, then turn again as The Mole shot past them. The Mole didn't have their sensing, so when he was completely underground where he popped up was a rough guess.

As it turned out, he popped up right underneath Sokka, who fell back with a scream. "Loud," said The Mole.

Ohev spoke up,"Hey, does Xin Fu want me for something?"

"Yeah. Needs you and-" The rumbler turned. "Ah, good." He pointed to Aang. "Wants you as well."

"Why?" Aang asked. The Mole shrugged. "Do you know why?" Without a hand to the ground, Toph couldn't see who he was asking.

"It probably has something to do with the match," Ohev offered. "Actually, this might be good."

"Why?"

"Well, you still need a trainer. And though he doesn't actually show it, Xin Fu is a really good earthbender. He'd make a great trainer. Plus, most of the rumblers work directly for him, so if he agreed you could get training from them."

"Yeahhh," Aang said hesitantly. "That might work. Would he agree?"

"Xin Fu loves his money," interjected Toph. "Do you still have the bag of silver?"

"Most of it…"

"Just offer to hand it back to him. Trust me, he'll do anything for that much."

"Awwww," Sokka said. "I had plans for it."

Katara said, "Alright, then let's head out."

"No," said The Mole. "Not them, just you two. Secret meeting." He made shushing noise. "Rumblers and Avatar only."

"Um, yeah," Katara said hesitantly. "Can we... talk?"

Toph heard the three walking off. Once again she found it so odd that sighted people were so deaf. "Are you sure about this?" Katara asked.

"What's wrong?" Aang asked.

"I'm not sure about Xin Fu," Katara replied. "I just don't trust him."

"Come on, Katara," Sokka assured her. "He owns the rumbles, how could anyone awesome enough to own the rumbles be bad?"

"Yeah!" said Aang. "Besides, I really need a teacher."

"All right," Katara conceded.

Slowly, Toph heard them walk back.

"Alright Ohev," Aang said cheerfully, "let's head out."

OoOoOoOoOo

Toph gave a contented sigh. It had been six months ago that Toph's final round of bindings had been removed. For the most part it hadn't made much difference. However, there was one great advantage. With no bindings required, she could soak her feet in hot water, draining away the pain and tension of the day. A comfy chair, her feet soaking; this was the apex of relaxation.

"Toph?" It was Katara. Toph realized she really ought to offer her some too. The servants could boil more water. Or maybe waterbenders could boil their own? "Toph it's been a while. Do you know how long these meetings usually last?"

Toph waved her off. "Dunno, might be a while, plus Xin Fu could be negotiating. That's why he does the 'secret' meetings. A few months ago, I was with Ohev when they were discussing salaries. Xin Fu was not happy about that." She chuckled at the memory. "So now he keeps it to himself; reduces the chances he might have to talk with anyone who knows what they're doing. Hey, you interested in a foot-soak? I can have the servants heat up some water."

"Foot-soak?"

Did they not have those in the Water Tribes? Toph felt a pang of sympathy. "It's where-"

"Oh _spirits_!" Katara shouted. "What happened to your feet!"

OoOoOoO

And in retrospect, it was obvious: the fighting, the waterbending, and most bleeding obviously of all, the steps. In retrospect it was so completely _obvious_, she knew the Fire Nation had unbound feet, and the Water Tribes were so far away from civilization.

Toph tried to explain the process of foot binding, but every time she tried, it just elected horror from the other girl.

"Your own parents did this to you?"

"NO!" Toph took a deep breath, and tried to explain once again. "They hired a professional."

"That's horrible!"

"Yeah, it sucked. You're lucky."

"But- but- Why?"

"I told you. It's to make them look pretty."

"But they look horrible, all mashed. How could anyone- anyone think- ugh?"

Toph laughed. "I dunno, I can't see them. Maybe it's just your Water Tribe. _Everyone_ gets their feet bound."

Katara struggled for words. "But that impossible. I would have seen, it- wait, the small feet. I thought those were natural, like skin colo- Oh Spirits! _That's_ what he meant about my big feet? If I ever see Haru again, I'm going to-!" She gave a growl of frustration. "I can't believe this. You're even worse than the Northern Water Tribe. They just forbid their female benders from learning, at least they didn't main them."

Toph hesitated. "'Maim'? I think it sucks, but don't you think you're going a little far?"

Katara wasn't listening, instead ranting off in her own world. "Of course you can't bend. They broke your feet. You can probably barely walk."

"Hey!"

"I can't believe, it. What sort of people could do this?"

"Wait-"

"Completely removing any chance of earthbending. To their own people."

"Just-"

"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Her father asked. Her parents had come down, likely from all the commotion. Toph placed her hand on the wall to keep better track of the conversation.

Katara twirled on them. "You bet there's a problem. You maiming your only daughter!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at them.

Toph had seen her father handle years of parties with nobles from all over. A single Water Tribe girl's outrage was nothing. "I'm sorry, I do not understand what you are referring to."

"THIS!" Katara's voice echoed throughout the room as she pointed to Toph's feet. "I can't believe you would do this. It's horrible, it's evil, it's barbaric-"

"I see you agree with the Fire Nation." Her father's tone was even, pleasant even.

"What?"

"That is exactly what the Fire Nation says. They call our tradition 'barbaric' and 'backwards', and justify their invasion by spreading their culture. Do you agree with them?"

"No!" Katara made several false starts as she searched for words. "That- That wasn't what I meant at all."

"So you are prepared to accept our way of life?"

"NO! I don't care what you say, it's _wrong._ Crushing your women's feet. No wonder Toph can't bend, you deliberately sabotage it! Making her completely helpless, you cruel, horrible-"

Toph rose to her feet. "Shut up!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone turned to her. "Shut up. You - you don't know anything! You know nothing about my parents!" Toph hated this girl. Who was she to say her parents were evil?

"I'm trying to help you!" Katara shouted back.

"How is this helping! You think you know me. You think I'm just some helpless, useless little girl. You don't see me as a real person. I achieved success, I'm doing fine, and I am _perfectly happy_ with my life! You don't know anything!" Toph was so angry tears were streaming down her face.

"You-"

"Shut up, I hate you!" Toph didn't even completely know why, but she did. It wasn't like she liked the binding, but who was this bitch to come in and say those things. To yell at her parents like they were horrible people, to judge Toph? "Get out!"

"FINE!" Katara shot back. "If you want it then fine. Enjoy being helpless, I hope you enjoy your _tea_ _ceremony_."

Toph was ready to slap her, but her father intervened first. "I think it would be best for everyone if you found your friends and left."

"Yes," said Katara with barely contained rage, "it would."  
OoOoOo

Toph lay in bed, still stewing in anger over Katara. That arrogant- Oh! What did she know of Toph's life? Toph had managed. She'd made her life a success. She could participate in the Earth Rumbles, even if not directly. What did Katara know, thinking she was helpless?

It made her blood boil.

"Look, you idiot-!" said some girl.

Toph sat up, she recognized that voice. What was _Katara _doing here?

"Let me handle this." That was her brother. "Look, we just want to know if Aang was here. Maybe if he came back?" That made Toph realize Ohev hadn't come back either, and it was getting late. She had a bad feeling about this.

She crept out of her bed. Toph had long memorized not only the compound but the paths the guards took, though she would occasionally crouch down and put her hand to the floor lest one decide to change their route for a late night snack.

She quickly made her way to the wall where they were still arguing. "Look," said Sokka. "I was just asking-"

"And for the last time, No, we haven't seen, heard or detected any sign of the Avatar, and you cannot have a, ugh, 'artic-doggy bag'. Now leave."

Silently, Toph regarded the wall. Normally Ohev would help her through. It was too thick to do in one go, but it was still mostly for show, not real defense. A few careful swipes of her hands, and she soon had a hole big enough to crawl through.

Toph carefully followed the siblings at a distance, keeping herself as scarce as she could. She had memorized the path to the Earth Rumbles, but trying to rush ahead might result in a confrontation with them. And she was not having that again.

OoOoOoOo

Toph couldn't believe it. Wait, actually she could. Xin Fu was just greedy enough that selling the Avatar to the Fire Nation wasn't out of the question. From her hiding place, it was somewhat hard to make out, but he trapped Aang underneath some heavy cage, and had… handcuffed Ohev? She wasn't sure, it was too far away to tell. Either way, with the other rumblers on Xin Fu's side, this wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

The siblings didn't know that. Instead of running away, like sensible people, they stood there. Katara yelling about how evil he was. Honestly, did she ever shut up? Like idiots, they gave the rumblers time to take position, and then then fight began.

Toph's jaw dropped as she observed the fight. While she could observe Katara's body movements, her actual waterbending was as cryptic as ever. On the other hand effects were much more clear. The Hippo was tripped. Fire Nation Man was thrown back into the stand. The Boulder's boulder split in two. The Mole nearly got her, but her brother took him out with a club to the back of the head.

Even as they were winning, and Toph did want them to win, Ohev was as trapped as Aang. She couldn't help but feel… depressed? Why? Was it Katara's power? It had been one thing to hear her talk about it, but to witness it, to know that it wasn't all talk. It would have been so easy to dismiss her, but Katara really was as good as she said. And somehow, that made it all the worse.

The fight continued. The rumblers had taken a few licks, but they were still in it. Slowly but surely, Toph could feel like it turning around. The siblings began being pushed back. If something didn't happen soon-

Evidently, they realized it too as Katara thrust out her arms towards Aang's cage. Even if Toph couldn't see it, she knew water was streaming towards it, ready to knock it over and free him. Before it could hit, a rock wall shot up, and Toph felt the impact of water.

Something was wrong. She hadn't 'seen' anyone create the wall. None of the other rumblers were close enough, and Xin Fu hadn't moved. There was no one-

And then, Toph felt her world shatter.

With the extra combatant, the fight was over quickly. The earth shifted around Katara's feet, and once she fell it rose around her, trapping her in the stone. Sokka went down moments later.

Toph didn't want to believe. She wanted to tear away her hands, forget it had ever happened, to not know. But she did.

She couldn't' believe it, but... but she had detected the movements, she knew. It was impossible not to.

He had never been handcuffed. He had never been trapped. He had _helped_.

Toph stood up, shock overtaking her. "Ohev?"

"Toph?" Wha- What are you doing here?" Toph breath stopped as she realized she'd revealed herself. All thought gone, she ran out of the arena, out into the forest, hands clutched at her sides as tears streamed down her face. "Toph! Toph, wait, come back! I can explain!"


	5. Unbound

**Unbound**

Toph curled up on the ground, and wept. Ohev had betrayed her.

_How? Why?_

It almost felt unreal, impossible. If - if she had been told, she wouldn't have believed. If some had told her, even her own parents, she would never have though it could be true. If Ohev had been accused yesterday, she would have shouted to the world his innocence.

_How?_

Some small part of her wanted to still not believe. But she couldn't, not really. She had witnessed it with her own hands and ears. It was true.

_Why?_

Why why why had he betrayed her? What reason? What could have possibly- Why? Why had he done this?

Had he been planning it? Had she missed the signs? He brought Aang there. Had he been planning this from the start? He had convinced her to not train Aang… but he hadn't had a problem with it until after they found out the Fire Nation was actively pursuing him.

Toph tried to find some reason, some explanation. Maybe the other rumblers threatened him? He could have done it to protect her. But even as she tried to convince herself, she felt the hollowness of the explanation. He hadn't known she was there, and even Xin Fu wouldn't threaten her parents.

Why? _Why_? The questioned turned over in her head again and again. What had made him do it? Had it been something she had done? Was it somehow her fault?

Toph curled on the ground, and wept.

OoOoOoO

She didn't know how long she was there. Seconds, minutes, hours? It had been long enough that her face was drenched with tears, and not so long that the day had begun to heat up. Other than that, she didn't know. She was so absorbed in her thoughts, in trying to think the unthinkable and explain the inexplicable.

In the end, it was not her own thoughts that finished, but outside interference that drew her out of her disquiet meditation. Toph wasn't sure whether she felt the vibrations or heard the footsteps; either way, someone was coming. She tried to calm herself, to concentrate. Breath in, think about the present, not about... not about anything else. Her life depended on it.

Slowly, she placed a trembling hand on the ground and concentrated on the vibrations. In her distress, what should be easy as breathing became as laborious and difficult as diamond shaping. But slowly she made out the footsteps.

Toph pulled her hand back. It was the Masked Earthbender. Not help, not even an ordinary town's person, but one of Xin Fu's men. Toph began panicking again, her mind conjuring up at the stories of what the Xin - and the Fire Nation - did to captured prisoners.

Toph forced those thoughts down, fighting past the fear that was gripping her. She had to get away, or hide. She, she didn't even know where she was! Tapping the ground. Toph found she was still in the tunnels. Th-that was bad. She couldn't call for help, there would be no help, no one to save her-

_Calm down_, she told herself. She needed to think, what should she do? Run, no, running would work, she could outrun them. Hide, make herself unseen. The tunnels were dark, lit only by the glowcrystals. She could manipulate them. Just as she could change the light's "color," she could also change how intense it was. If she could just make it somewhat darker-

"Huh?"

Toph felt her breath stop and she instantly released her bending. That was so stupid, dimming the glowcrystals so much and so fast he noticed. Now she was going to be found and-

Toph stopped herself; he wasn't coming any closer. Rational thought reasserted itself. He'd noticed the drop, but didn't realize what it meant. She'd have to be more careful. According to Nu Wa, light was like sound; if you changed it rapidly, people would notice, but if you changed it with slow care, people wouldn't catch on.

Toph began concentrating on the ceiling crystals, dimming them slightly. The Masked Earthbender had resumed his walk and was coming closer. Quickly, she crawled to the side of the tunnel. She bent the rocks around the side of her, creating small stalagmites that would help hide her as he passed by. It was a delicate act of balance, too slow and she'd have nothing, too fast and the noise might draw his attention.

Finally, he was close enough Toph could not risk it any more. She huddled in her make-shift hiding place, trying to make herself as small as possible.

The footsteps continued. No change, no derivation; she'd hadn't been seen.

Toph forced her trembling body to be as still as possible, to make not a sound as he passed by. At first it seemed to work, but then, with her body motionless, agonizing questions returned to her unoccupied mind. Why had Ohev betrayed her? How was it possible? Toph tried to force those thoughts back down, but as she did so a new, stronger one came up.

She was huddled in a corner, cowering lest she be found. No action, no defiance, just hiding.

Katara was right. She _was_ useless.

And with that, the flood gate opened and all her illusions of strength were torn from her. She'd never had any strength to begin with, all the strength was Ohev's. She may have helped give it to him, but now she could really understand. It was never hers to begin with. He had won those victories, not her. He had the power, not her. There was no "them" just "he" and "she".

Toph could feel hot tears on her face. The Masked Earthbender would hear; she had to stop it, had to calm down. Desperately she reached out, hand settling on a rock. Cupping her hand around it, she began shaping it. Remembering old lessons with Nu Wa, she thought only about the shaping, nothing else.

But how could she? She deserved this. She wasn't even willing to take a single stand. But how could she? The fighting was Ohev's power, all she had were tea ceremonies and crystals. Crippled, useless, pathetic: the words flashed through her mind. Fine with her life? She'd only been fine because of the happy fiction she'd devised.

_Bowl. Cup. Star._ The rock switched between long-ago memorize shapes.

Her earthbending was a joke, compared to Katara's waterbending. Not that she deserved to compare herself. There was no comparison. Katara had fought. Oh she had fought, defied the rumblers. And almost won.

_Plate. Spoon._

The only reasons she'd even lost-

Toph forced that thought down. _Badger-mole statue._

The only reason she'd-

_Miniature house._

Toph finally managed to force the thought down. She felt herself calm now, focusing on the shapes and praying he couldn't hear her bending. It felt like the loudest thing in the world right now. But slowly, oh so agonizingly slowly, she could now hear the footsteps, practically on top of her, moving past. Then, unbidden by conscious thought, the rock took on one final shape, a shape she'd made many times and that was long engrained in her muscle memory.

_Ohev figurine._

The only reason Katara had lost was Ohev.

Toph broke down. The tears flowed, this time with loud, noisy sobs. Desperately she clutched the rock, trying to shape it, to regain control. But it was too late, she found herself lifted into the air by the Masked Earthbender. She began flaying, panicking, screaming. Wishing for something, anything to save her.

A knife plunged into the Masked Earthbender's chest, he gave a scream and Toph found herself falling to the ground.

For what seemed like an eternity, there was nothing besides the sound of her own breathing. Slowly, Toph calmed down enough to speak. "Hello, who's there?" Who had plunged the knife In the Masked Earthbender? Who was the mysterious attacker? An enemy? A benefactor? Whoever he was, he didn't speak. The only reply was the echoing of her own voice off the cave wall.

Toph placed her hand to the ground, letting out a steady serious of vibrations. But no matter how many she sent, or what strength, they all returned the same - nothing. What was going on? How could anyone move that fast… an airbender? But there weren't-

Toph stopped. How had she known about the knife? Her hands had been off the ground, she had been screaming to loud to hear anything. How had she-

Because she'd plunged in the knife herself.

The thought came into her head like a sledgehammer. And with that, she was able to piece together the jumped memories of those desperate seconds. The rock had turned into another shape, a knife, and, in her desperation, she had stuck the Masked Earthbender. She had killed him!

Toph reached towards the body for the knife. Needing some sort of confirmation, her hand hovered over the body. She could make out the slight sound of breathing. He wasn't dead yet. Her hand felt the stone handle, and her fingers wrapped around it.

It was so small, sized for child half her age. Slowly, she pulled it out and brought it close to study. As it passed over her legs, she could feel a few drops of blood hit. She ran her finger over the wickedly sharp edge.

Toph picked herself up and made her way down the tunnels. She needed to move. Someone would find her here. And, she didn't want to be next to the body - the Masked Earthbender. He wasn't dead yet, she reminded herself.

OoOoOo

She tapped the wall. This branch of the caverns was fairly open, with several exits. The cool breeze meant that some of them opened to the surface. Despite its easy entrance and exits, the section itself was difficult to navigate, with wide, and branching stalagmites and very few glowcrystals to see by. Anyone trying to get through would find it difficult, and anyone trying to locate someone would find it near impossible. Not that anyone was near.

Toph gratefully sank to the ground. She was safe. Slowly, she turned the knife over in her hands. She had actually stabbed someone. The Masked Earthbender… it wasn't like she'd really known him that well, but he was a rumbler. The idea that she'd ever fight him, that Ohev would betray her...

The same questions came flooding back. Why had he done this? How could he? Only now something was different. Changed. She was just as devastated, but there was something else, something overriding it in the pit of her stomach. Rage.

How dare he? How could he do this? After everything they had done, how could he? She wanted to see him beat up, to see him in chains and, made to answer. She'd yell at him and tell him what he'd done.

_(…and yet some pathetic part of her didn't. Didn't want to see him hurt.) _

Toph squelched that thought. She was angry, she was mad, she was… helpless.

And like that, rage gave way to despair. How was she going to stop them? The rumblers were good, real good. Her father was rich, but he didn't have any real earthbenders. The town guard was made of rejects not good enough for the army. The military might help her, but Gaoling was a victim of its own good fortune. The Fire Nation was far enough away that there were no major armies here. Maybe she could get Master Yu… but if he was anything like his students, he would lose.

And that was even if she could get any of them at all. It was the dead of night, waking them would be difficult enough and then they'd have to get there before Aang was moved. Xin Fu already knew she had seen. If she wasn't caught, they would move Aang. Not to mention convincing them, a blind girl trying claiming a conspiracy to kidnap the Avatar? Yeah right. The only person who knew, and could do anything, was her.

Her, what a joke. The spirits' cruel trick on the world. Toph's thoughts turned back to Katara and their differences. The tears renewed, only, once again, they were as much in rage as in sorrow. Katara was right. Binding – she could have been able to earthbend. She could have been great. She could have been a rumbler. She could have been somebody, instead of off to the side. Instead she'd relied on Ohev to achiever her dreams, and he'd, he'd-

Toph pounded the ground with her fist.

The cavern rumbled.

Toph paused. It hadn't been huge, nothing on a real rumbler, but still. She hadn't realized she could do that. Not that it did any good, she was still nothing. She couldn't even take on the weakest-

Toph's fingers ran over the knife. But she'd already done, hadn't she? The Masked Earthbender wasn't even the weakest, not really. He would beat Fire Nation Man, and was fairly even with the Hippo and Mole. He'd even taken on the Boulder once or twice. Far from the weakest at all.

But she'd been lucky. He hadn't been expecting a fight, and she'd plunged a knife into him. That wasn't a _real_ fight at all. If they'd actually fought, she'd have lost. Besides, the others might not be apart. There was no way she could beat anyone in a fair fight, let alone all of them at once.

….. in a fair fight.

Toph grinned.

OoOoOoOoO

Heavy footfalls; it had to be The Hippo. Nervously, Toph checked her supplies. Rocks, glowcrystal, dirt, and most importantly of all, courage.

Oddly, that last one Toph had the least trouble with. She was no longer afraid. Or, she was, but she was more afraid of what would happen if she didn't try. If she let herself back down now, she'd know she was nothing. She could see the future, in a way, if she didn't at least try. She'd never had the courage to do it again. It wouldn't be back to her old life, for she wouldn't have the illusion of strength. If she backed down now, she'd back down forever more, meekly accepting her life. Compared to that, dying was preferable.

Toph picked up a small rock from her pocket and carefully prepared herself. With one hand she touched the side of the cavern, tracking The Hippo, and with other, she earthbent the rock around the corner and down the tunnel. A second later, a satisfying shout - more of surprise than of pain - came from around the corner.

"Hey, Hippo! You looking for me?" she taunted.

Toph hated running, the hard impacts were not kind to her feet. But they were probably kinder than the impacts she would face were The Hippo to catch her. He was surprisingly fast on his feet, but he couldn't corner at all. In the winding tunnels, Toph was able to put her agility to good use.

Finally, after a minute or two of being chased Toph turned around. "Getting tired?"

"Just getting warmed up," he replied, voice was confident. That was no surprise. The tunnel was long and straight, perfect for him. There was no way Toph could escape before he reached her. Toph smiled as he charged forward.

When he was about halfway there, Toph drove her fist into the side of the tunnel. The impact was not impressive by earthbending fighting standards. It should have made little more than an impressive noise, and it certainly shouldn't have collapsed the cavern. And it wouldn't have, if Toph hadn't weakened the ceiling of the cavern several minutes beforehand.

The Hippo began to raise his arms to try to stop it. He might have succeeded, he was one of the strongest rumblers, which was why Toph sprung the second part of her trap. She raised the earth in front of him a few inches. The Hippo, who was in mid-charge and had attention focused elsewhere, wasn't even able notice the change, let alone stop it. His feet hit the newly raised earth, and he was easily tripped.

The Hippo fell on the ground with a thud. The rocks fell on The Hippo with a thud.

Toph waited, concentrating on the vibration. Breath and heartbeat were still there, but he was out cold. She smiled. Trying to lift as much rock as the rumblers was impossible, but she didn't have to; gravity was quite willing to do the heavy work if she just helped it along.

OoOoOo

She found Fire Nation Man next. He was too agile for traps. But she knew that, and had other things planned. Toph focused on the crystals around him.

"Hey, who turned out the lights? What's going on?"

Toph quietly stepped out. She was slightly nervous, even though she knew he couldn't see there was. Some small part of her always found it difficult to believe people were really so helpless without light. As always, her fears amounted to nothing. Fire Nation Man was wandering around aimlessly with his arms outstretched.

Toph bent down with one knee on the ground. One hand was kept steady, to feel the earth and keep the crystals dark, while the other held some rock. She waited until just the right moment, carefully tracking Fire Nation Man until he had stopped, and then let it fly.

She would never be able to launch rocks as big as the guys, but power was both weight _and_ speed. Take a small rock and you could throw it darn fast without needing to anchor yourself to the ground. That rock would have less power, but what it did have would be all in one place: Fire Nation Man's forehead.

The rock hit and Fire Nation Man fell back, knocked out completely.

OoOoOoOo

She found the Boulder outside. The exits had lead to the outskirts of town. Toph had had no idea that the caverns extended so far, you could probably get anywhere from here. Not that it mattered; right now she had other things to worry about.

The Boulder was outside, so dampening glowcrystals wouldn't work...

...or maybe it would. Her parents had said the Moon, unlike the Sun, wasn't always out. Even so, there might have been clouds. But Toph wasn't willing to risk it. There were other ways to blind a Boulder.

Toph concentrated, making the motions used for sweeping dirt. Though with a slight variation, the goal was not to concentrate the dirt, but distribute it. Soon the entire area was completely chocked.

"The Boulder - _ahack -_ demands to know what is going on!" He gave another cough. Toph ignored him and readied a rock.

Unfortunately the Boulder was either more aware, a better Earthbender, or simply had a harder head than Fire Nation Man, and was still up after the first rock. He sent a few boulders back, but they flew overhead, missing her easily. Toph began to ready another rock-

The rumble below the earth was unmistakable. It was the Mole, and headed right for her! How had he found her? Toph didn't have much time to think about it, as she scrambled away as he burst out underneath where she had been.

"Here!" he shouted to the Boulder before heading straight towards her. His heavy burrowing meant Toph didn't have to waste a hand tracking him. Instead she lobbed several rocks with one hand while desperately crafting with the other.

The Mole easily blocked her attacks. Devoid of surprise, they were all but useless. He was nearly within range when Toph finished molding the earth around her into an "earthen sword" - really little more than a longer version of the knife. With earthbending, she could swing it as easily as a perfectly balanced work of a master.

Unfortunately Toph didn't have the skill of master, so while she could swing it in an arc that was all she could do. It did cause the Mole to stop in his tracks. She quickly moved forward, her blade a quick moving arc of death.

Suddenly, Toph felt herself lifted in the air by. "The Boulder is seriously reconsidering his promise to avoid hurting you." Each of his hands was held one of her arms, and they were nearly large enough to encircle her arms.

Crap. The Boulder had gotten out of the dirt cloud. Toph had been so concentrated on the 'sword' she hadn't kept a hand to the ground, and he had gotten behind her without her noticing.

Male earthbenders would helpless. Held above the ground, their connection to the earth was disrupted, making it all but impossible to perform great feats. But for Toph, there was no change. Quickly, she reshaped her 'sword' into a pair of heavy earth 'gloves'. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a glowcrystal. "Hey Boulder, want a gift?"

"The Boulder appreciates the gift," Toph pushed against the crystal, forcing it to a greater and greater vibration, "but will not stoop to bribery. Especially cheap-" Toph threw the glowcrystal into the air, and shielded her face. There was an ear-piercing ring, followed by twin screams as the crystal exploded.

Toph fell to the ground. Pushing past the pain in her right arm, she forced herself to summon more rocks, knocking the two wrestlers out as they were distracted by the shards now imbedded in their skin.

She took stock. While her face and hands were protected, the rest of her had not been, and one bit of glowcrystal had imbedded itself in her arm. Luckily it wasn't in too deep and she was able to pick it out. There wasn't even much bleeding, which probably meant that the other two were fine as well. Not that she cared.

Still, this left one question. How had the Mole found her? She had known he was near, but he had been in the tunnels below, far enough away not to hear, and there was no way he saw. And he didn't have earthsense. He couldn't have found her-

Unless he was told.

Toph began running, but it was too late. As she was at the entrance to the caverns, rock exploded around her, bending into restraints that completely immobilized her. A few seconds later she made out Ohev walking towards her.

He began, "Toph-"

He sounded… worried? It didn't matter. She didn't wait for Ohev to finish. She didn't want him to finish. "You jerk! Why?" she shouted at him, letting rage overcome any fear. "Why did you betray us?"

"I didn't-"

"Shut up!" Toph struggled against her bonds, but the rock was tight. "Shut up. I hate you! I hate you! You jerk! You betrayed everyone! You betrayed the Earth Kingdom, you betrayed the Avatar. You betrayed _me_! Why? Money? Xin Fu's promises? Why?"

"I did it for you."

"You-!" Toph began to shout, but then stopped as the words, and his steady heartbeat, registered. "You what?"

"You. I wanted to help you- I-" Ohev went through several more false starts. "Look, you just managed to beat every single rumbler I did and that's with the bindings. If you had never been bound..." Ohev's voice quivered with anger for a second, but then he sighed, and continued, his tone sorrowful. "I never should have been in the ring, it should have been you. I'm no great earthbender, you made me so. If you had been able to bend you would have crushed them without even breaking a sweat. You would have been the undisputed champion."

"So what? How does this equal you siding with the Fire Nation?" Toph tried to work up an appropriate level of malice, but it just wasn't coming.

"The bindings. The Fire Nation doesn't just not use them, they forbid them in their territory. If you had been colonies, none of this would have happened. You would have been great." For a second he remained Toph of Aang, that same note of hope in his voice.

Toph gave a dismissive laugh. "So what? It's too late now."

Ohev was silent for what seemed like an eternity. "Yes, but do you really want our children to end up they way?"

Toph stopped dead. "What?"

"Toph. You are the cleverest, bravest, smartest girl I've ever known. You gave me strength. You taught me earthbending, made me good enough to have the championship." Toph felt him drop to his knees. "Toph, this is our chance. We can run away_._ I know we're young. I know I'm only a peasant. But I love you," Toph felt his heart racing, beating like a drum, a mixture of fear and excitement even greater than he felt before the championships. "I want to protect you and be with you and spend the rest of my life with you. Toph, I love you, marry me."

Toph-

Toph… had nothing to say. She froze, trying to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Of all the possible reasons, of all the possible choices, this was one she had never even considered. She froze, trying to make her decision.

Toph thought over her life. Ohev was always there. Always supportive, always a friend, there when her parents weren't. Love… did she love him? It was such a big word, and yet... and yet, if she had really asked herself, the answered would have been yes. Yes, she did.

And yet…

"You're _just_ like my parents!" she shouted.

"What?"

"You decided we should capture the Avatar. You decided to abandon the foot binding." Toph felt around the rock, it was strong, but not tight, her fingers could wiggle.

"But you hate-"

"Shut up!" Toph shouted. Finger movement only would have been enough to trap a male earthbender, who relied on large movements. But Toph didn't, she only needed her hands, and knew delicate small movements. "I hate it. But who were you to decide what I should and shouldn't do? You think you know best, just like my parents!"

"I am NOT!" he shouted angrily. "I'm trying to help you."

"Help me? Like my parents helped me? They bound my feet so I would be able to find a marriage prospect. Hey, turned out it worked!" Soon, the movement in her fingers opened up the rock wider, allowing hand movements. "Or maybe we should talk about how they want me to be close off from the outside world so I won't get hurt. Just like you said not to travel with the Avatar. So now you're going to _help me_ by selling out the world to the Fire Nation."

"It's to end footbinding-"

"For 'our' children. I heard." Toph could feel the rock loosening. An unbound bender could have broken free right now, but Toph continued working. "Hey Ohev, guess what? I couldn't be great in the Fire Nation either. And you know why? Because they _forbid earthbending_."

"That's just in rebellious areas."

"Oh, and how did you become such an expert?"

"Xin Fu said-"

"You got your information from Xin Fu? That greedy bastard would sell his own mother for a copper. You trusted him? I can't believe you were that stupid!"

"I-"

"You know what I want? I want to make my own choices. I want to decide who to follow. I want to decide about binding. I want to decide what to do and not to. Not have someone make those decisions for me you: not my parents, not Nu Wa, not Katara, and not even you!"

With a grunt of effort, the strained rock finally gave and Toph broke free. She immediately lunged for Ohev. There was no way to win a straight up earthbending dual, so she didn't try. Instead she turned it into a brawl. No grand battle of benders, just two twelve year olds kicking, elbowing and kneeing each other. Or at least Toph was. That was her one advantage: Ohev didn't really want to hurt her, just to get her off him. The reverse was not true.

When a battered Ohev finally fell into unconsciousness, Toph stood up, panting hard. She slowly made her way back to the caverns. There was still had work to do.

OoOoOoO

Xin Fu was a great bender, possibly better than Ohev. Unlike the others, he was in the main Earth Ring, still guarding prisoners. Toph would have no way to ambush him easily. Any battle would be as much about luck as skill, and there was a good chance she'd lose.

Which is why she was tunneling underneath him. Fighting battles you didn't need to and were likely to lose was for the ring, not the fate of the world.

Toph took a deep breath. Tunneling was hard work, even when you were making one just small enough to crawl through.

"Yes, I knew." Toph's ears perked up. That was Aang, she was close enough to here him, she must be practically underneath it. "Look, I'm sorry, Katara. I didn't tell you for the same I don't tell people from the Earth Kingdom you wear parkas. It's just how it's done, and I didn't think about it."

Toph tapped against the thin layer of earth above her. "Aang," she whispered.

"Remember when they said that Kyoshi had big feet? And because of that, all women do? That's what they were talking about. It was their way of saying they don't practice footbinding."

Toph tapped again, slightly louder. "Aang."

"No! The Air Temples had separate temples for women, and were entirely run by them. They got to make their own laws and rules."

Toph pounded the ground. "Aang!"

"Huh, what? Toph?" Toph felt him looking around.

"I'm under the ground."

She felt him crouch down. "Oh. … Nothing guys, Toph's here. Yes, really!"

"Aang, if I can tip over the cage, can you free Katara and Sokka and defeat Xin Fu?"

"I guess so…"

"Great." Toph didn't feel like talking. She crouched down on her knees and prepared herself to bend the earth. Slowly, she moved one side of the earth around the cage upwards. It wasn't easy, the cage was heavy, it began to tip, further, and further, until...

CLANK.

The fight itself was nothing. Xin Fu was as good as they said, but the others were better. The only disappointment was that Toph still had trouble making out what they were doing, so it mostly consisted of Xin Fu getting beat up by an invisible force. Which was surprisingly satisfying, all things considered.


	6. Boundless

**Boundless**

After Xin Fu was firmly trounced the group walked back over to Toph, who had dug herself out of the ground. Aang asked, "So, Toph, what are you doing here?"

"I came to rescue you, duh."

"See, Katara!" Aang's voice dripped with cheer. "I knew it would work out."

"Guys, I hate to interrupt this joyous conversation," Sokka put his hand on their shoulders, "but we really need to get going. Xin Fu's goons and Ohev are going to be back any minute."

Toph shook her head. "Not they're not. I took care of them."

"Wait, all of them?"

"Yeah."

"Wow," said Aang. "That's amazing." For a second Toph wondered if he was mocking her, but his tone was sincere.

Toph waved her hand dismissively. "It was nothing."

"But you must have been scared, facing them all," Aang pressed.

"Puu-leeze, it was nothing. It took them all on and- shoot." Toph snapped her fingers.

"What?" asked Sokka.

"We need to find a healer in town. I think a few of them might be dying."

"Actually," Katara spoke up, "I'm a healer."

OoOoOo

Katara waved her hands over the Masked Earthbender. Toph was getting really tired of not knowing what other bending movements meant, and resolved to learn as soon as possible. After a few minutes, Katara pronounced her diagnosis. "He's fine."

"What?" Toph was slightly indignant. "What do you mean he's fine? I stabbed him with a knife."

"Well it didn't penetrate very deep, the wound was tiny. Just give me another minute and it'll be patched up."

"But, but, he fell to the ground-"

Katara said, "Oh, that. He just fainted."

"Fainted!" Toph groused, "What a wimp."

OoOoOo

"OW!

"Quite moving," snapped Katara.

To Toph, the rumbler said, "The Boulder - OW! - does not like you."

"I said, quit moving. And just be grateful they didn't penetrate very far or hit anything vital." Katara's bedside manner was appalling. Toph wondered if all Water Tribe healers were like this. _Must suck to get injured up there. _

The Boulder mumbled something, though the only word Toph could make out was "women".

Katara moved her hand down lower. "What was that?" she said with excessively false cheer.

"THE BOULDER WILL BE GOOD!"

"What did she do?" Toph whispered to Sokka.

"Threatened to freeze his… boulders." Sokka shuddered.

Toph sat down, enjoying the silence that was broken only by the occasional "ow" from either the Boulder or the Mole. Her revere ended as she felt a new set of vibrations; faint, but there. She got up and wondered back to the entrance.

There was nothing. No breathing, no rustle of leaves. "Ohev?" Toph stepped back, she shouldn't have come alone. "Guys!" she yelled out, even though they weren't that far. Toph crouched down, trying to find him, but there was nothing- no, Toph could make out slight vibrations of, coming from far off. Ohev was running, and making good time. There was no way they were going to catch him, especially at night.

Aang was the first to the scene. "Toph! What happened?"

"Ohev's gone." That sentence, it shouldn't have hurt, but…

"Good, I don't want see him again." Katara's voice had an edge worse than the one she'd used with the Boulder.

"Shut up," Toph mumbled back.

"What? He _betrayed_ you."

"He - he was stupid. B-b he wasn't trying to hurt me. He meant well. He was helping the Fire Nation because they forbid footbindings." Toph admitted the last part was a petty snipe as much as anything else, but she was feeling surprisingly petty. "I don't think he meant to be bad."

"Fine." Katara folded her arms. "He still betrayed you."

"Actually-" Aang picked up a rock and held it out for the other two to see, then he wordlessly handed it to Toph. Toph traced the rock, crudely sketched on it was a single word.

_Sorry_

OoOoOoO

"So," Aang asked once all the rumblers were healed, "what are you going to do now?"

"Actually... you still in the market for a teacher?"

"You bet! Oh, just wait till you see Appa… well not _see _Appa, but you know what I mean." Aang continued to happily babble about his flying bison, not noticing that the rest of the group had fallen behind.

Katara walked next to her. "Hey, Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wish you could earthbend? I mean, that your feet weren't bound."

Toph sighed. "Look, I'm fine. I'll be able to teach Aang. I already taught one earthbender. And I won't be a burden or useless. I took out the rumblers. I'm fine."

"I didn't mean it like that."

Now Toph felt angry. "Oh, and just how did you 'mean it'?"

"I meant, how would you like to have your feet back to the way they were?"

Toph stopped. "What?"

"I'm not sure it will work, but I might have an idea-"

OoOoOoO

"Katara, are you sure?" asked Sokka. "This is going to use all the spirit water."

"Yes, I'm sure," snapped Katara. "Toph, are you ready?"

Toph sat on the grass, her feet outstretched. If she were honest, she wasn't ready, the set-up reminded her to much of the bindings, and it was probably going to hurt just as much. But being able to earthbend, having her feet restored, that was worth it. "Yes, just get it on."

The first thing Toph felt was wetness. The water shifted around, tickling her feet ever so slightly. Then-

For the rest of her life Toph would never be able to describe the feeling that came next. It was like nothing else in the world. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't pleasant either. It was _weird_. It was like her feet were moving, only they weren't. Like they were flowing, the skin and muscles had become water, or- or- words failed, any description she could come up with was only a crude approximation of the sensation.

"Stay still," Katara cautioned. Toph tried, but it was hard since her feet felt like they were moving on their own. She could hear the boys giving alternative ohhhs and ewwws in the background.

The healing wasn't quick, and it defiantly wasn't some instant reformation. It remained Toph of diamond bending more than anything else. Actually, that was good metaphor for the difference between this and her bindings. The bindings were like Earthbending, forcing the feet to comply, this was like diamond bending, coaxing them. As it wore on, she could feel the slight rays of the sun that indicated morning on her face.

"All right," Katara finally said. "I think that's it." The water withdrew.

Toph felt her feet. The first thing she noticed was that they still felt weird, like they were somebody else's feet. The second thing was how easy it was to wiggle her toes. Toph spent several minutes just wiggling them in delight. Next she felt her foot, it was… like a man's foot. Big, flat, no bone near the skin.

Finally, cautiously, Toph stood up. "It, it doesn't hurt…" It had been a long time since she'd even noticed, but, with its absence, it was as obvious as an earthquake. The constant background pain that happened every time she walked wasn't there. She could stand up without any aches at all.

Toph felt tears of joy rolling down her face.

The second thing she noticed was how much livelier the world was. She could feel everything. It was like she was walking on her hands. The vibrations didn't feel exactly the same, but they were there, and _strong_. It was amazing. Actually, Toph felt slightly worried. Unlike her hands, she couldn't exactly lift her feet up to stop feeling things. What if she wanted some peace and quiet?

Still, any doubts were more than overcome by her sheer joy. She could earthbend with just as much power as the guys. "This is awesome!" Toph stomped her feet, revealing in her power.

Pain shot through her foot. Toph, in agony, grasped it. The miniature earthquake created by her stomp unbalanced her. Already somewhat shaky and now standing on one foot, she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

The joy drained away, replaced by a hollow feeling. "I thought, I thought I was supposed to be healed. What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know? Let me check." Katara crouched down, sending water toward her feet. Toph felt some that strange sensation again as the water circled over her feet, but not quite, the weird… energy was there, but her feeling of her feet becoming water wasn't. After a few minutes, Katara finally withdrew the water. Somberly, she informed her, "Toph, I'm sorry. I can feel your chi pathways, they're much better, but the binding... its damage was bad. The water helped, they're not crocked and half-dead like before, but they're weak. Really weak."

"So… I can't bend?"

"I don't know," answered Katara. "I'm not an earthbender, but they are a lot better than before. I think you can bend, and do better than before. But they aren't fully healed, so really heavy impacts… Maybe they just need time," she offered hopefully, but from her heartbeat Toph could tell she didn't believe it.

Toph sat up, a sense of melancholy setting over her previous exuberance. This wasn't a magic cure. She was better off, but still… crippled.

But as she sat there, she began to cheer up. She couldn't do the style males preferred, but so what? She could manage. She'd never been concerned with copying the rumblers before. Ohev had won thanks to the foot sense, and she'd beaten all the rumblers by not playing the same game. Sure, she couldn't do heavy attack, but a lighter, more maneuverable style she could handle. She could do anything.

"It's okay." Toph smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, Toph?" said Aang. "Do you want to say good-bye to your parent?"

Toph laughed and lifted her foot. "Like this? Please, if they're one thing this did it's guarantee I have to go with you. They would freak."

OoOoOoO

This was irony. She was finally able to feel the ground all the time and they had a method of travel through the air. Toph felt nervous and slightly sick. She needed something to take her mind off it. And besides, the question had been burning away at her. "Katara?"

"What?"

"Why do you heal?"

"What?" Katara said in confusion.

"When we were back home, you said that the Northern Tribe force women to heal. But you, you managed to learn to fight. You don't have to heal. Why do you?"

"I… well…" Katara struggled for an answer. "Why wouldn't I? I can still fight and heal. I mean, it's not like I hate healing, or it's bad. I hated what they did because I wanted to be able to fight, not because I hated healing."

Toph was silent. "Is something wrong?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, Aang! Turn around."

"Huh? What are you doing?"

"I have one last goodbye to say."

OoOoOoO

Toph asked the rest of them to stay back, she wanted to do this alone. It should be… private.

Nu Wa's manners were, always impeccable. Even though Toph had dropped out of nowhere, she had set the table like it was just a routine visit. "Toph, I had hoped I might see you."

"What?"

"Your parents, or rather one of their servants came by. They woke me up in the middle of the night. Apparently you've vanished."

"Sorry. You can tell them I'm fine…. and that I won't be coming back."

Nu Wa took a sip of tea. "I see."

"And… I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Nu Wa said in honest confusion.

"I never really respected you. I always thought of your earthbending as inferior. Not as good as the guys. Theirs is flashier, but it wasn't worse, just different."

Nu Wa laughed. "Child, if I had a penny for every student how didn't respect my teaching, I would be a much richer woman… But I must ask, what path?"

"Huh?"

"I knew you were great, that's why I gave you such indulgences. That you had such skills, you would be more than just a great earthbender. You would be one to redefine the art. To add a new skill and take a place in history. Now, it seems you've found your path. So tell me, what is it? What path could requires you to run away from home?"

"I'm teaching the Avatar."

"… how-?"

Wordlessly, Toph took a rock from her pocked and shaped it into a knife, making a few swishing motions. Next she focused on the table, bending little spike up, they were small, far smaller than a male's, but sharp, and so hard to see. Next she took out a crystal, and began to make it vibrate, though she calmed it back down before it exploded.

The room was silent.

Finally, Toph could take it no longer. "Sifu?"

Nu Wa gave a mirthless chuckle. "I'm sorry, but even though I prepared myself, it is still so hard. I know art, new art, is always decried by the old guard, ridiculed and seen as inferior, or worse, an abomination. I prepared myself, I was not going to be like that. And yet… to see the art used for violence." Nu Wa sighed.

"I'm sorry, this is who I am."

"I... I know. And I could do nothing to stop you. But, as I said, you will redefine the world. Bringing girls to the battlefield, bad enough the men have to do it…"

"If we don't fight, the Fire Nation will conquer us as all."

Nu Wa didn't speak for a long time. "Before you go, I have one last gift." Nu Wa got up and reached into her lockbox, pulling out a small piece of paper. "This is a letter, for your parents. It certifies that you learned everything yourself, and I only oversaw two days of your training. And that the earthvision was entirely yours. You can keep it or send it to them as you want." She handed it to Toph.

"But won't this ruin your reputation?"

Nu Wa shrugged. "I'm getting old. And have a nice nest egg to retire to. It never sat right with me, lying about such genius."

Toph turned the letter over in her hands, half considering tearing it right there. Eventually, she stuffed it in her pocket.

"Goodbye, Toph."

"Goodbye, Sifu."

OoOoOoO

**Epilogue**

"Does this guy have a name?" Zuko turned to see a women like Lee and his father, she was dressed in simple green.

Zuko struggled, his usual name unavailable. "I, uh?"

She laughed. "Not another one!"

Gansu shook his head. "Like I said before, he doesn't have to say if he doesn't want to. Anyone who can hold his own against those bullies is welcome here. Heck, at this rate, we might have our own private army."

Zuko blinked. "What?"

Lee sheepishly rubbed his head. "Sorry, I forgot to mention him."

Gansu nodded. "Well stranger, you're not the first person in these parts. We've got another guest, even younger than you. Handy though, I don't think I've seen a better earthbender. If he wasn't so young, I'd say it a shame he wasn't in the army."

Looking past the man, Zuko though he could make out the other guest. Gansu was right, he was young. But Zuko didn't let that fool him, if the walls her was conjuring up weren't enough, Zuko experience with the Avatar had dissuaded him of any notion that a lack of age meant a lack of skill.

Somewhat reluctantly, Zuko walked over. He might as well introduce himself now, and get it over with.

OoOoOoOo

**Fin.**


End file.
